I'm getting more into Facebook now that it has so many darn users and would like to have the people who visit my Web site and blog become fans of my Facebook page too. I have seen on some sites - yours included - that there's a nifty little Facebook box that makes it easy to "like" your Facebook page. How do I add that for my own site?

I know that Facebook has its own gift cards and points system, but I don't want to send my friends "virtual" things. I'd rather send them something that gives them the flexibility of buying something that's real. Like an Amazon gift card. Is there any way I can send a gift card to one of my pals - or my fiancée! - within Facebook?

I'm trying to tame my Facebook news feed without unfriending tons of people and I know I can hide everything from people instead, but I want to hide certain updates from certain people instead. Like, a Facebook status update filter. Does something like that exist?

This is a guest article written by freelance programmer Ville-Matti Hakanpää

In this brief introductory tutorial I will go through some basic aspects of Facebook application development. The work itself is basic app programming, but it's a whole new world and environment. If you have a wonderful idea, Facebook can work as a great distribution channel for you. Heck, even a bad idea can get some attention fast!

Start out with the most basic of questions, though: what makes a good app?

That's the first and most common question people are asking or they should be asking. The best way to start when you're trying to decide what to develop is to look through all the other applications what are inside Facebook already. Facebook applications are listed and rated by users, so there's a feedback loop there too that tells you the kind of things people find useful and engaging.

It used to be pretty easy to hide application updates from my Facebook Live Feed, but now that feature seems to have vanished and I'm forced to find the app and block it. Big step in the wrong direction! Isn't there an easier way?

Somehow I seem to be having an application on Facebook posting to my news stream information about me without ever remembering that I signed up for it. Disconcerting, to say the least! How do I check what apps I have authorized and delete ones I don't want from the Facebook universe?