This week Facebook rolled out an option to use the encrypted HTTPS option when browsing the network. This comes after the release of a browser extension, FireSheep, which makes it easier for others sharing your open wireless connection to access your account credentials. Interestingly the creator of the extension built it specifically to encourage sites like Facebook to lock down their security standards. While FireSheep has been available for several weeks, this transition by Facebook comes days after Mark Zuckerberg’s fan page was hacked. Interesting!

Thankfully our techies got wind of FireSheep pretty early on, and we immediately had a meeting to discuss security upgrades that could be made to our own software to deter similar abuses. Formerly it was our recommendation to protect all network user data using SSL, however we have since optimized our software to run entirely through HTTPS. As of January 2011, any new installations of our social network framework comes with a strong recommendation to opt for this additional layer of security. Other sites that encrypt all data and interactions would be etrade.com, mint.com and online banking sites. (more…)

Some days I think of the role of a project manager is like being a sherpa of sorts. A techie sherpa. There is a mountain to climb… the website. There is an ambitious person at the bottom of it who is determined to climb it… the client. There is a person who has been there already and survived… me. It’s hard though. There may be some bumps and bruises and you can never count on the weather. But we can and will get there! Unless you yell at the sherpa because you’re tired of climbing. Never yell at your techie sherpa. The same way you would never yell at your mother, or your lawyer.

A big part of navigating the way from a concept to a completed project is facilitating between the person with the idea and the many people who make it happen. This requires a bit of translating. Yes, programmers speak a different language, at least when it comes to websites. I can map out a verbal request for a function from a client in a way that one of my programmers can mathetmatically understand. I can explain what we’re doing and how we’re doing it in layman’s terms that a client understands. I can also break down a number of acronyms that may seem overwhelming to someone who is green to web development terminology. PHP, XML, DNS, MySQL, LAMP, IP, FTP. (FYI, we love acronyms so much that every one of our projects gets their own also.) (more…)

If I had a nickel for every time an email graced my inbox with this phrase in it…

First of all, if anyone could decide be just like Facebook, I’m sure MySpace would be paying to be first in line. Second, thinking that you will blow Facebook out of the water with a site that looks and acts just like Facebook just isn’t too innovative. It would take a really outside-the-box concept to do that. Third, Facebook will sue you if you’re just like Facebook.

This is actually why we build niche communities, because they serve a demographic in a way that Facebook currently does not, whether that is by a specific interest, by function or by location. Sometimes Facebook is just too big and too general to meet every need, and that is the gap that we fill and that we encourage our clients to take advantage of. We build networks with the hope that one of our communities could warrant it’s own social bookmarking icon someday, but we’re also interested in building a site that actually has a chance of gaining traction by serving a need that hasn’t been met to an audience that will take advantage of it. (more…)