
May 2011 I started putting together a new web app variant dubbed Chronos, based on the idea of rewarding Facebook page fans with content when a variable is met. This was a much simpler build than some previous frameworks i’ve worked on, and based purely on PHP and running calculations via data sourced from Open Graph.
We were initially going to just build this to reward fans of a page when it gets to a certain number of ‘Likes’. Then we realised the potential can go further and Facebook’s Graph API objects lent the app more potential.
We now have 3 core versions developed:
- ‘Like‘: The standard intended use of content revealing when a page gets to a certain number of ‘Likes’.
- ‘Checkin‘ Revealing content (a discount code for examaple) when a Place gets a certain number of checkins.
- ‘Counter‘ Really simple countdown timer to reveal chronological events at set times. (reduces dev requirement)

The concept is really simple, and was inspired by Battlefield 3′s Facebook page which rewarded fans with exclusive new game trailers when the page got to 1m ‘Likes’. The target was ambitious in the time scale, but the idea was simple and great. A lot of Facebook developers are trying to fly fancy builds all over the platform, but you really don’t need to. We developed this app so we can quickly (thus cheaply) serve clients great solutions, or offer it as a source licensed model to others.
Features:
The whole app is driven from 1 config file with 7 variables, which in turn programmes over 20 template objects. The Graph API also allows any objects to be pulled from the standard graph.facebook.com strings.
In general, the standard application involves:
- A ‘Like’ button, which when clicks automatically hides. This only shows for non-fans of the page. Alternative content can be set for existing fans to incentivise sharing the page more
- A % driven meter which displays progress in real time. This is all just CSS so can be styled however
- Share, Tweet and Invite buttons to incentivise people to share the page and post to their wall. The information here is all determined by the config too, giving progress % data in the updates.
- The Checkin version has a Google Map image which is automatically pinned and set via the location returns from the Graph API – no need to develop this, it generates its self as soon as you set the Place ID.
That’s pretty much it! In terms of what’s revealed when the targets reached, it can really be anything – Video, downloads, streams, discount codes, competition forms – the better the reward the more galvanised people are to collectively achieve it.
We’re just about to break Chronos’ virginity on a couple of campaigns in Beta, so we’ll see how this goes. I’m expecting it to change the world, but then it was never meant to. We developed this so it can be quickly and cost effectively deployed and just ‘work’.
Feel free to share any feedback! We have demo’s live but we’re keeping this in private testing for now.
Follow the Lucid Dev Tumblr for updated project examples.