How to create a successful and effective Facebook app

     Since Facebook apps are taking the internet by storm I thought I'd have a look at what people say makes an app successful. Today, with a small budget and basic skills almost anyone can create an app, but getting people to actually use it - no that's another story. So I had a look at some articles on creating a Facebook app. The first one looked at the dos and the don'ts. The author mentioned different things, but the most important lesson from it would be to 'keep it simple' - make the app very visual, simple and intuitive, limit the amount of text and keep it in like with the Facebook standards and appearance.
     Since I have chosen a fashion brand for my assignment I was looking primarily at articles about Facebook app for fashion. The next article showed 8 top Facebook fashion apps. Some were shopping apps, some help find fashion inspiration and some let users share their style and receive feedback. Whatever they are, they are all very visual but also simple and interactive - ex. allowed the users to see products in 360 degrees. Their purpose is to make the users' life easier and save them time. The third article was very similar to the second ones and explored different fashion app available.
     The last article I looked at gave tips on how to make a successful Facebook app. It highlighted what have already been said in the other ones - keep it simple, make it interactive and personalized. It also said to make it an experience and give it a 'wow' factor, which is probably the hardest thing to do with an app.

     As hard as it is to define it a successful app must have the 'it' factor - something the users have not seen before. The best apps either combine two uses, ex. Pose - it lets users get inspiration and at the same time give them info about item prices and where you can buy them, or are very new and fresh - be it thanks to the content or the appearance. And because it's fashion they contain hardly any words - it's all pictures - which makes it easier to use.
     The most viral apps are also not too 'pushy' - there's not too much promotion behind them and they don't ask users for too much private information - users decide themselves to send it to their friends or share it on their page. The goal in the app is to give the user an unforgettable experience and not (as much as we'd want to) ask to much in return.