Just in time for back-to-school, we have added user profiles and Facebook integration (using their recently released APIs).
- Create a profile including a picture, a bit about you, your websites (e.g. MySpace page), and your birthday
- Add your Facebook friends
- Merge your Facebook photo and details into your BillMonk profile
- Sign in to BillMonk using your Facebook id
We also tidied up “Your Account” to make it easier than ever to control your contacts and settings.
Meanwhile, we’ve been chugging away at some backend features which you don’t see at all, but which enable a lot of other exciting new features and make things run better.
So sharpen those pencils, get ready for school, and try out the BillMonk-Facebook integration!
September 5, 2006 at 6:28 am |
If you are logged in via cookies, you may need to log out and back in before these new features will work. At least, that’s what happened to me.
September 5, 2006 at 6:39 am |
Yup, sorry about that. This should be fixed now!
September 5, 2006 at 8:10 pm |
[...] As the co-founder of BillMonk, I can honestly say that I was delighted when Facebook made its APIs available. We in fact recent added Facebook integration: http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2006/09/05/facebook-integration-and-profiles/ [...]
October 11, 2006 at 6:27 pm |
Yo, what’s up with Facebook? It looks like they launched a direct competitor to you guys: http://moochspot.com/
October 11, 2006 at 6:57 pm |
And MoochSpot already has multi-way settling up or consolidating where A owes B and C owes A, C should just pay B directly. This is a feature that has been on BillMonk’s TODO list for as long as I’ve been a member, and it’s the one feature besides custom beer-as-currency style payments that I most miss from BillMonk’s feature set. (Oh, and itemized bills, but you said you’re working on that one right now, ne?)
Usually you BillMonk devs are absolutely awesome about responding to issues and coding up fixes. What’s up with the delay in these features?
In any case, I hope you guys win out over MoochSpot. You have library lending integrated with the whole informal accouting thing, which is a great feature. And I like you guys.
October 11, 2006 at 11:35 pm |
Tom – I don’t see MoochSpot as a bad thing. It was launched as reference application to demonstrate the Facebook API. Now that we’re integrated with Facebook, their network is just as much an asset to us as MoochSpot. But more generally, it’s inevitable that good ideas attract imitators. For us, having competitors validates the social money space, and educates users to choose tools that help with borrowing with friends. Winning becomes a question of focus and knowing what the user wants.
Arthaey – yes, MoochSpot allows a limited form of group settlement. I note that they lack advanced split bills, history with a friend, a lending library, and a host of other features that can only be found in BillMonk. Why don’t we have group settlement yet? For this to be a truly compelling feature, you have to do a better job of respecting user privacy than MoochSpot allows (one friend could learn about your debts with another friend), and to provide a sophisticated user interface, which takes a lot of time to build. It’s true that we’ve had a lot on our plates; and our priorities have shifted as we learn what the greatest number of our users most need. Our top-three tasks right now are making the site available to users of all languages, recurrence, and payments. But yes, itemized bills and group settlement are important features that we’ve laid the groundwork for, and which are on our roadmap.
June 6, 2010 at 4:24 am |
Nice sharing. Thanks… I wait for my blog
November 6, 2011 at 5:50 am |
math tutoring…
[...]Facebook Integration and Profiles « Notes from the BillMonk[...]…