Postcards from December Developer Events

We wrapped up 2009 with a multitude of developer events worldwide.

The Facebook team started the month in Paris, France, at the Le Web conference focused on the real-time Web. Ethan Beard, the Director of the Facebook Developer Network, gave a keynote on “Connecting in the Social Web" and announced Facebook Connect has been implemented on over 80,000 sites in one year.

Later in the day, Beard was joined by other tech luminaries to discuss the current state of platforms on the Web.

Reaching out to the local French community, over 100 developers joined us at the Facebook Developer Garage Paris – Le Web Edition to listen to a technical walk-through of Facebook Connect and understand the benefits of building using Facebook technologies.

Nearby in London, over 150 developers gathered to discuss social gaming. Local developers, studios, and VCs shared tips on how to retain engagement with gaming applications.

Over in the South Pacific, the first Facebook Developer Garage Philippines brought motivated developers and users together to share details on the Filipino application developer achievements and discuss how to further leverage Facebook technologies to build social features.

Washington D.C.’s second-ever Facebook Developer Garage attracted more than 150 on-site attendees and over 18,000 virtual participants who came to understand how politicians use social applications and discuss security considerations in the application development lifecycle. Near the end of the event, officials from President Obama’s administration stopped by to discuss the federal government’s innovation initiatives.

Across the US in Seattle, over 200 developers met to learn about social gaming tactics, game design, virality, and other tips to engage your users on Facebook.

The month ended in Taipei where over 250 developers attended the Facebook Developer Garage, which featured talks on brand marketing and virtual currency in games. Local Taiwanese developers also shared ideas on how to market, scale, and monetize apps on Facebook.

If you'd like to host a Developer Garage in your region, please see our Developer Wiki to learn more about the program or check out the Platform Page to find more garages near you. We look forward to seeing you at a Facebook event soon!

Julia, who manages developer events worldwide, would like to give a special thanks to our hosts: Facebook Developer Garage London, Netvibes, Facebook Developer Garage Philippines, Developer Garage Washington DC Group, Spitfire, Taiwan Facebook Developers Group, and to our sponsor Intel