Ever see an awesome piece of online marketing or cool app inside Facebook? Ever think “gee, I wonder which agency did that?”

Finding out is, in some cases, incredibly simple. All you have to do is find out where it lives - trivial for a web developer, but not so obvious to those who don’t read code.

Any application on Facebook is actually a tiny website, usually of just a few pages, with some added social features. So what you’re seeing on Facebook when a brand has a really nifty app isn’t actually being stored on facebook.com at all, but on an external website from which it’s pulled in. Think of it like embedding a YouTube video on a blog; the video is always stored on YouTube, it’s just displayed inside another site.

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I recently helped Edelman Ireland design this infographic on Facebook use in Ireland.

Key stats include that Facebook’s user base has doubled in the last two years, that there are slightly more women than men using it and that 25 – 34 is the largest age group.

I’m indebted to the fascinating archives of Mulley Communications for historical usage numbers. Damien Mulley has been running a blog since 2003, and has been tracking the growth of social media for years.

Larger version (900px wide) available by clicking here.

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A long time ago, I wrote that in an ideal world, student newspapers should be able to figure out a way to move content between InDesign and an online content management system automatically; there’s no reason why XML can’t be read by either.

Well, not only is it possible, but the Bangor Daily News has spent the money to get it done, and, in an enormous display of generosity, has released the code publicly.

This blog post summarises the information perfectly, and nitty-gritty details are available on their development blog.

This is fantastic system for low-budget operations like student newspapers or locals that simply can’t afford an enterprise solution like the incredible Woodwing. And it focuses on a web-first solution, which is something often talked about but rarely practised.

I’m very interested to see who takes advantage of the open source code. If I were starting as Editor of my student paper again, I certainly would.

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I’m a relatively new owner of an Amazon Kindle. I’m not the only one. Since bricks-and-mortar shop PC World started stocking the Kindle, growing numbers of Irish people are carrying them about. Amazon don’t disclose sales figures, but they have announced that they sell more digital books than paper copies.

Many people who ask about it simply say they don’t see the point. In my experience over the last month or so, it’s a fantastic device which is not only contributing to a rediscovery of reading for pleasure, but helping me consume digital-only content in a whole new way.

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