Facebook Newsroom CMS
From Newscloud
The Facebook Newsroom CMS framework is generic Facebook application code which can be quickly and easily installed, configured and customized for any small organization wanting to establish a sophisticated Web presence within the Facebook community. We hope this framework will drastically reduce the barrier to entry for organizations wishing to leverage Facebook.
Demonstration Site at Facebook
Education Center for Newsroom CMS
While Facebook has Groups and Pages that are easy to set up, they are also quite limited in functionality. These features are not conducive to community-building, engagement or organizing. Until now, building a Facebook application with broader capabilities required a significant investment of $5 - $15,000 minimum. This framework provides the easiest, most customizable and economical solution for small and/or non profit organizations to run an application on Facebook.
It's essentially a start up kit for small organizations wishing to build a Facebook application without spending thousands of dollars. It's also a great starting point which can later be enhanced and extended with additional features. With just a few hours, a Web developer with basic PHP skills can launch your application. Hosting can even be obtained free for one year at Joyent (waiting list may exist for free accounts).
Since the framework is open source, it can grow over time as the development community contributes new capabilities.
Screenshot
Available Features
The default framework provides some basic pages (like a basic Web site or Drupal or Plone installation) e.g. Home page, Newsroom, Photos, Wall, Discussion Forum, Invitations page and About page. It also provides basic content management (CMS) features for customizing the site from within a Web-based management user interface which many users are already familiar with. Pages can be turned on or off or content edited in place.
The news features include integration with your organization's own RSS feed (from a blog or Web site) and the NewsCloud Newsroom which provides real time community-driven news content on a variety of topics. The NewsCloud Newsroom can also be fully customized. If you have a Drupal-based Web site, check out the Drupal NewsCloud module.
The CMS supports HTML blocks and iFrames to allow you to integrate advertising e.g. Google AdSense, fundraising e.g. ChipIn, photos e.g. Flickr slideshows and more.
See the generic demonstration site on Facebook or this demonstration site for Seattle-based ONE/Northwest which was created in just a couple of hours with the framework.
Requirements
Facebook Developer account
Linux hosting with PHP 5.x (4.x with minor changes)/MySQL 4.x
Possible hosting options:
Facebook Links:
Facebook Platform Documentation
Facebook Developer Application
Questions?
Set up instructions are included in the readme file with the code download. As usual, please contact me via email at mailto:jeff@newscloud.com with any questions, bug reports or feature requests. Thanks all!
