Programming Social Applications

The Default View (Any View)

The last view that is generally available within many social containers is not actually a view at all, but more of a view state. The default, or preview, view of an application displays content to users who have not already installed the application or to individuals who are currently logged out of the social network. This view is in public view space, and therefore, may not have direct access to much of a user’s profile information, similar to how the public badge provided through the user profile provides only a small subset of information about her.

This view state can emerge within any traditional view, including the profile and canvas view. The home view, however, is generally a personal profile for a logged-in user, so it is unlikely that the default state would emerge in that view. In the case of a signed-out user, you will not be able to take advantage of any personal information because it’s unknown. If this state emerges in a small view, it may simply be a case of someone trying to view a user’s profile; although your application will render, this event does not necessarily indicate a user who is engaged with it. If this state emerges within the application’s canvas view, though, you most likely have a user who is interested and wants to learn more.

For cases where this state emerges in the smaller views of an application, you should be providing a method to try to immediately drive the viewer to your application’s canvas view to install the application, ...