I’ve had a desire to write a Facebook application for a while, but really lacked a fun idea to get myself going.

Luckily, such an idea manifested itself one day, while I devoured all-you-can-eat sushi with my best friend Kevin.

As we neared the end of our maki masterpieces, I was coming dangerously close to exceeding my fill of fish. I thought for a moment about how I could entice Kevin to finish what was left, so we wouldn’t get charged for it.

“I’ll give you 10 G-Points if you finish the rest of the sushi”, I offered.

“What’s a G-Point?” he asked.

“A Gurney Point, of course! It’s like a brownie point, but better! I’ll let you save them up over the next year, and then you can redeem them for valuable services and merchandise at The Gurney Store™!”

This must have seemed intriguing because, with Kevin’s help, we managed to get through the rest of the sushi unscathed. (Between you and me, the Gurney Store doesn’t exist, so the joke will be on him! Ha!)

Facebook wasn’t at the forefront of my mind at the time, but after thinking about it some more, this idea seemed to make complete, total, absolute sense to live there. As we paid and left the restaurant, we continued to come up with other situations in which I might offer him points, or have him give me K-Points in return, and, particularly, what might make these points more meaningful to one another.

Kevin then suggested (indirectly) that I could tie its implementation to a discussion that would fit neatly on this site. After considering it, I thought it would be fun. So, here we are!

Mmmm, brownies.

Of course, on Facebook, this isn’t an original idea. Nor was I surprised to learn that it appears that at least one application fitting this description already exists. My second runner-up for a name, Friend Points, is also taken.

For now, then, I’m going to call this thing friendcreds, which we’ll say is hip, web shorthand for “Friend Credits”. (But, I’m definitely open to suggestions if somebody’s feeling creative!)

Now, let’s take this idea and flesh it out a bit. What do we do next?

We’ll start with a list.

I love lists. Here’s a list about why lists are cool:

• Lists are a great tool for brainstorming. They keep you focussed on just getting the thoughts out of your brain and on to paper.
• A simple list doesn’t need fancy formatting or even proper grammar, necessarily.
• Lists don’t require a fancy Word processor, which you would probably spend your time struggling with to correct problems with the aforementioned formatting.
• Lists can be easily organized, and re-organized.

As we begin working on this the intention should be to try to capture as many of our ideas as possible. We’ll organize, prioritize, and otherwise determine what’s feasible at a later point. For now, this is all about the brainstorming, and a list makes it easy to rapidly jot these ideas down.

So, what does this thing do?

In hindsight, I should have scribbled this down on a napkin during lunch, but instead I’ll have to go from memory. So here’s our list, describing the big picture of what we want friendcreds — which I’ll also refer to as “the app” — to do. For now, let’s call this our What List:

• The app should allow me to give an arbitrary amount of credits (points) to another friend, plus a reason as to why they’re getting the credits (so they know).
• We’ll say that the reason why I give my friends credits is optional, and I can choose to make it private, so that only my friend can see why he/she received points.
• The app should allow me to create goals (such as, say, one of my New Year’s Resolutions) which has some set credit value assigned. Upon achieving said goal, my friend can then choose to give me the credits I so deserve. Goals, and their credit values, should be mutually agreed upon between my friend and I. (Why? Because then I believe it will have more meaning.) And to make things fun, goals could have an image associated with them.
• For each friend I can give credits to, I should be able to change the name of the credit denomination/currency. I might want to refer to them as GPoints, for example. (Why? This gives things a more personal aspect.)
• I should only have a fixed number of credits for any given friend. (Why? With a fixed number available to give away, they have more meaning. I might take more time deciding what to give away.)
• My pool of credits can be replenished once a year, on a user-defined date (for example, at the end of the year, or on a birthday). This sets a spending limit, again to help give these credits some perceived value.

OK, now where do we go from here?

In the next article, we’ll revisit our What List in more detail, give it more structure, and then begin to think about how friendcreds will work. From there, I’m actually going to create this thing and share the process with you… even if it means more, grueling trips out for sushi!

– Chris.

Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions? Post ‘em below!