7.10. First Person: Joe Hewitt and Facebook

The world's most popular social network is also the world's most popular iPhone app: Facebook was the most downloaded app in the App Store's first year. The app's vast user base and the sprawling features of the original website created a challenge for Facebook developer Joe Hewitt, the one-man show behind the first three generations of Facebook for iPhone. While most iPhone apps focus appropriately on a small feature set, Facebook's users demanded broad access to the service's entire range of features. Although the first version of the app launched with a limited feature set, Facebook 2.0 and 3.0 evolved quickly to embrace nearly all the features available on the full Facebook website. Joe shared the challenges and solutions for squeezing a big feature set into the small screen.