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- A New Chapter in Reading with Friends
  by Fran Larkin on Monday, September 27, 2010 at 9:07am
  While it's rare we read together, reading can be social. People share articles on Facebook, form book clubs, get book recommendations from friends, and debate and discuss news stories. Now Scribd, a social reading and publishing site, is making it easier to find great reads through the help of your friends.
  
  Starting today, when you visit Scribd while logged into Facebook, you will see personalized reading recommendations based on what your friends are sharing and on your Facebook likes and interests. And when you find something that you... enjoy, with a simple click of the Like button, you can quickly and easily share it with your friends. Through instant personalization, Scribd will use the public information you share with your friends on Facebook to personalize your reading experience. You can learn more about the instant personalization program here.
  
  People share more than 55,000 items on Scribd every day, including teachers disseminating class materials, authors publishing books, friends exchanging recipes and hobbyists discovering antique manuals. Now you and your friends can take your Facebook experience to Scribd to read and share documents together.
  
  Fran, a Facebook Platform product marketing manager, is uploading a PDF of this blog post to Scribd.
  
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- Topics: Platform
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- Discover Facebook Pages
  by Ben Blumenfeld on Friday, September 24, 2010 at 11:58am
  A couple of months ago I found myself online, browsing for movies to rent. There are lots of tools to find new movies or rediscover old ones. As I poked around, I thought, "People should really be able to do this with Pages on Facebook!"
  
  If we could create a fun way to browse movies, TV shows and musicians, it would help people more easily express shared interests and keep updated about those interests. I did a quick sketch of what this could look like and started discussing the idea with a few people, including Ziqing Mao, an engineer on our... team.
  
  Move Fast and Like Things
  Ziqing told me he'd been playing around with a similar idea, and our mini team of two quickly began working together on this idea. Over the next few weeks we designed, built and iterated. Eventually we had a working prototype that was fun to use (always a good sign when building something new).
  
  For example, I went to the Page Browser and noticed that the TED conference had a Page on Facebook. I loved watching the conference's videos on its site and decided to "like" its Page. Liking it meant that not only was I telling my friends that I'm into TED, but I also started getting great video recommendations from TED in my News Feed that I enjoyed. Of course, if I didn't want the updates I could always hide them as well.
  
  The new Page Browser
  
  Let the Exploring Begin
  So, with a couple more weeks of iterating and lots of help from others, we're now ready to release the Page Browser. We've even added a couple fun things like a way for you to discover interests from other countries and a way to see which of your friends is most similar to you.
  
  As with all experiences on Facebook, the Page Browser will continue to evolve as we get feedback from you. For now, we hope you enjoy connecting with your interests and maybe even find a few new ones.
  
  Ben, a designer at Facebook, likes "This American Life," TED and "Dirty Dancing."
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- A Better Games Experience
  by Jared Morgenstern on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 5:37pm
  Games are an important way we connect with people, from family game night, to playing console games with siblings, to card games with friends. More than 200 million people play games on Facebook every month because it's easy to get started and play with friends. We're focused on improving the quality of the experience for those who play games, as well as those who do not. Today, we're launching features to give you better control over the updates you see in your News Feed.
  
  Previously, you've had the ability to hide an application story, or... block it completely. Now, we're putting changes in place so game stories only post to your feed if you're playing them. This means people who play games can post stories to their Wall without worrying about overwhelming their friends who aren't playing, and people who don't play games won't see irrelevant stories in their feed for which they have no context.
  
  For game players, here are some improvements we're excited to be launching today:
  Full stories in News Feed so they won't miss when a friend shares an action or needs help in a game. The more active a person is in a game, the more prominent the stories will be.
  Smarter bookmarks on the home page that will automatically appear and reorder based on the games they're playing. They will no longer need to individually bookmark apps, and it will be easier to get to favorite apps.
  A clearer, highlighted number for pending requests or tasks alongside bookmarks.
  Requests in the Games Dashboard, where they can manage all their game activity and discover new games.
  You’ll no longer need to bookmark individual applications, as the ones you use most often will automatically appear and reorder.
  People who do not play games will only see stories when a particular game is added by a group of friends, instead of ongoing News Feed stories. These dedicated stories will show which friends are playing a game, making it easy to join them. Over the coming months, we plan to launch additional features that provide improved and personalized social games and News Feed experiences. Happy gaming!
  
  Jared, Product Manager for games, is most likely passing you in Bejeweled Blitz
  
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- A New Movie Experience, Starring You and Your Friends
  by Austin Haugen on Friday, September 17, 2010 at 10:09am
  "Have you seen any good movies recently?" is something I usually ask my friends as I start to make weekend plans. My friends are the most important movie critics to me, and we're constantly exchanging opinions about movies, whether in person or online.
  
  The web is better with friends, especially for inherently social activities like movies, so we're working with Rotten Tomatoes to make it easier for you to take your friends to the movie review site. You'll immediately see the reviews most relevant to you, without having to register, search for... friends, or fill out a profile.
  
  Taking the Facebook Experience to Rotten Tomatoes
  If you're already logged into Facebook, Rotten Tomatoes will now be personalized the moment you arrive. Through instant personalization, you'll see your friends' reviews prominently, as well as the movies they've recently liked or want to see, and recommendations based on the movies you've liked or reviewed from across the web. Next time you're trying to decide on a movie to watch, you'll be able to see what the professional critics and your friends say all in one place.
  
  Like other instant personalization partner websites, you only bring the public parts of your profile to Rotten Tomatoes so they can create your social experience. Check out our video to learn more about the program.
  
  From restaurant reviews to music and television, we plan on working with select partners to create great experiences where having your friends there makes all the difference. Until then, from the theater or the couch to online, it should be easy to take your friends with you to the movies.
  
  Austin, a Facebook Platform Product Manager, is still asking his friends about "Inception."
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