Like most people, Joshua Schwarz made a New Year’s Resolution at the beginning of 2011. But, Schwarz’s resolution was a bit more ambitious than the traditional vow to get healthier in the new year.
During his Sophomore year at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland studying Computer Science, Joshua tinkered on his computer and made cool applications for fun. His friends wound up asking him again and again, what’s next? Josh then had the idea to create a Facebook app every week for one year. Mission complete.
“I am determined to start my own company before I graduate from Case Western and so I am aggressively pursuing technology, business, and entrepreneurship. I was inspired to create 52 Facebook apps in a week by week project after showing classmates at Case things that I had previously created. The collective body of my projects is viewable on my web-site, Amagit.com,” says Josh.
Not only does this act show extreme determination and drive, but an obscene amount of creativity. Think about it. Every week, Josh had to come up with an idea that would appeal to his peers, and satisfy the media outlets following him. Now, that’s pressure.
Joshua is using this project, and future projects, to reach his entrepreneurial goals.
“One day, I want to start my own company like Google or Facebook and so I spend my time tinkering with new Internet technologies. Facebook just happens to have its own platform for applications so I’ve taken a look at it.” says Josh.
Previously, Josh created a music web-site where you could search for a song, or artist, and it would find a YouTube video or Wikipedia article related to that artist. While going to school full time, he is currently interning at Jumpstart Inc., a company that provides intensive assistance to Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs leading high potential companies.
The top three Facebook apps developed by Josh drawing the most attention are;
*Mutual Friends Matrix which currently has over 6,000 users. Among a random sample of friends, see those who are mutually the most popular. The app takes a random sampling of 20 of your friends and looks at everyone THEY know, that YOU know too, The app compiles the most popular mutual friends out of that circle.
*Cartoonize Me! Drew 3,200 users since June 2011. Transform your photos into colorful cartoons. It creates an image from your profie pics and applies a color effect.
*Love Button Are your statuses too great to merely be liked? Must they be loved? Add the functionality of the “love button” to your wall posts. Post a status on Facebook, and instead of liking it, there is another option to LOVE.
The other 49 apps are drawing a lot of attention too. They are listed below in order of development.
The Next App Have an idea for “the next app?” Need help forming an idea? Shape your idea, share it on your wall.
Email Grab Set up a simple way to collect email addresses from visitors to your website.
Meme Generator Create a meme out of an image on the web and share it on your profile.
Photo Feed Experience your news feed as a stream of images.
Like Blocks Find new things that you like among all of the likes of your friends presented in a visual “block” display.
Montage of Me Transform the photos of you alone into a photo montage.
Cute Couples Have friends that are in relationships? See the most recent photos that they have taken as couples.
Compatibility Checker Run compatibility reports on your friends.
USA Job Search Browse local job listings and submit your resume online.
Shared Interests Discover the likes that you mutually share with your best Facebook friends. Post the results to your wall.
Circle of Friends Generate a circular, visual representation of your list of friends for your profile.
Trending Words Examine the trending words in your news feed.
My Links See all of the web content that you have ever shared on Facebook.
Top Photo Fans See your biggest fans based on who comments on your photos.
Developer Friends At a glance, see if your friends are developing for Facebook.
Notebook Read all the notes that your friends have posted on Facebook.
Band Bio Quickly look up information about the bands that you like.
Popularity Contest See which friends have the wittiest statuses in your news feed.
Group Photos See all the photos of you hanging out with groups of friends.
Friend List Exporter Easily download your friend list and other relevant information.
News Feedsters See who’s filling up your most recent news feed.
Like Manager Revisit and consolidate all of the things that you like on Facebook.
Profile Flipbook View a flipbook of your friends’ profile pictures.
Online Friends Map Visually stay aware of your currently online friends.
UFO Sightings Report and read about the latest UFO sightings in your area.
Who I Am Experience a color-coded word collage of the things that you like and the friends that you have.
Constellations See which constellations are visible in your area this month.
Friends That Tweet See if your Facebook friends are on Twitter.
Social News Read interesting news in your area via public Facebook posts.
Love of Music Share the love of music. See the most popular musicians and bands according to your friends’ “likes.”
CDC Flu Awareness Become more aware of influenza by seeing vaccination statistics in your area.
I Like Attention See your status updates sorted by popularity. Learn from what has worked and try to top yourself.
Status Time Machine Go back in time to see your earliest status message in Facebook’s memory.
Video Dashboard Watch the videos that your top friends are in from a simple control panel.
My Blogosphere See your friends’ blogs, websites, and everything else that they are doing online.
Smile Collection Transform the profile pictures of all of your friends into a giant collage and share it on your wall.
Be Social See the upcoming social events that your top friends might attend.
City Friends Easily group up friends by their current locations and plan social events accordingly.
Word Cram See how many words you can create using a group of jumbled letters in two minutes.
Fortune Cookie Cravin’ Get your fortune cookie for the day with a lucky like, saying, and number, and share your results on your wall.
Social Memories Experience memories made on Facebook a second time and share them with your friends.
Photo Grab Need offline copies of photos that you and your friends have put on Facebook? Instantly download your favorites.
Nascar Fantasy Pick’em Compete in a Nascar fantasy league. Select the top drivers in each Sprint Cup race and share your fantasy success on your wall.
Comic Strip Catalogue Read your favorite comic strips all in one place. Post the best to your wall.
Forgotten Friends (Disabled by Facebook) Receive notifications as people “unfriend” you. See who interacts with you the most and the least and use that information to maintain more relationships.
Social Horoscope Connect with your friends based on what is fated in the stars. Select an astrological sign and receive a friend by fate from that category.
Teddy Bear Hugs Tired of “poking” your friends? Interact in a more meaningful way by “teddy bear hugging” them. You can even choose your own teddy bear!
Music 4 2day Receive song recommendations based on the artists that you already like.
Relationship Mania Easily organize your friends based on what relationships they’re in. See who’s single, taken, engaged, and more, and learn what relationships change as they change via notifications.
See more on Joshua Schwarz.
