I don’t have any Timeline apps installed, but I did see that my engagement to Kim (a Timeline event) does not appear in my feed from the API.  

No matter what the documentation says now, or the API sends now, it’s probably subject to change.  It looks like that data is not yet exposed.  

The reason that asking the user only once for permission is huge is so people can more easily use these apps on their mobile devices,  and have those actions echoed on their Facebook timeline which promotes the application to the user’s friends.  Of the timeline applications already available, almost all of them can be found in the iTunes App Store. This reinforces my theory  that their ultimate use is to capture actions from mobile users and not necessarily people using Facebook through a browser.

One thing I was struck by when thinking about Timeline apps was that they don’t seem to be that different than regular apps, other than the automatic push notifications to the Timeline, and how they are set up. Am I wrong here? Just packaged and presented in a bit of a different way, with more options for publishing to a user’s Timeline.

I agree with you that more nonprofits should use apps, but how they are used has always been the nonprofit’s challenge. Given that, what I do like about Timeline apps are the noun-verb pairings (such as a GiveStrong idea you suggested) and how they convey an action a supporter is taking so easily.

Waiting until the bugs and quirks of Timeline have been worked out is definitely solid advice. Most nonprofits aren’t early adopters, and most don’t have a developer on site that can work to get an app ready quickly, but thinking and planning for a Timeline app would be worthwhile to do at this juncture.

I agree with most of what you say here, but might be able to extend some of it with my developer hat on.

Nonprofits can get the benefits of more data, and more knowledge, about supporters from any kind of Facebook app, not just timeline.  Facebook permissions are complicated, but incremental.  You can ask them to sign in using Facebook one time, then ask them to share their Likes for a different reason, and then ask them to add Timeline when you have a good reason to do so.  It all ties back to the same profile, and the cause (or app developer) would have access to everything shared (per FB’s privacy and TOS, of course).  It’s really not that hard to make a FB app, and I think more causes should have one.

Timeline is still fairly constraining – the main argument for making one is that your content shows up in more places, in different ways, and conforms to the internet’s obsession with making nouns into proper nouns (Friend, Follow, Post…).  This way, Important Words on your website become Important Words on Facebook, which can be critical for branding.  I can see Komen getting in there with Cure, or Livestrong doing something with VerbStrong or NounStrong.  

You can only use certain actions names, and certain objects, and you need to be careful how they’ll appear in various Facebook phrases, titles, and contexts.  Some of the sentences you wrote wouldn’t be possible without simplification or grammatical gymnastics.  Probably the biggest challenge with designing a timeline app is choosing terms that will suit your organization for years to come.  

I think unless your team knew timeline was launching, and already have the perfect idea for it, I’d wait until it solidifies a little.  Remember, Facebook features are known to change, and as of Sunday the “submit action” process had a bug.  

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