We’re excited that developers from all over the world are building on Facebook, and thrilled when we have the opportunity to meet them. This past weekend I spoke at the first ever Facebook Developer Garage in India hosted by Tekriti Software in New Delhi. (Gurgaon, to be precise.) We started the day with an overview of Facebook, including developments since the Platform's launch in mid 2007, updates on some of our recent announcements (including our partnership with Salesforce and the Application Verification Program), and we talked at length about Facebook Connect.

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p>After my talk, we listened to developers share their experiences with Platform. Infrablue Technology, creator of Twenty20 Cricket (one of our FbFundees), shared their experiences creating one of the first fantasy applications on Facebook focused entirely on cricket. Then Vikas Jawa from Zoomtra (an Indian travel brand) shared his key learnings from creating their app, India Dekha. India Dekha allows users to share all of the places in India where they have traveled, would like to travel, or would like to highlight. He shared great insights, such as: "know what you want – for us, it was branding and to help generate user-generated content" and "find reasons for users to come back – make it engaging."

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p>Throughout the rest of the day we heard from developers creating multi-platform experiences, as well as giving each other technical advice, for example, the benefits of delaying require_login() for users (it allows them to see much more of an app before having to share their own data and click "allow.")

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p>The enthusiasm in the air was palpable, and the organizers have already been asked to host more garages in Delhi. Some of the attendees are excited to host their own garage in Bangladesh early in the new year.

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p>For me, it was a fantastic opportunity to see the similarities and differences between our developers around the world. Infrastructure is clearly an issue in India (we had three power outages during the garage alone!) but all developers worldwide want to better understand ways to make more engaging and compelling apps.

Hats off to Tekriti Software for a job well done – I can’t wait to meet the next generation of developers at a garage somewhere else in the world... maybe your home town?