From a simple flow to social applications

Currently, there are a lot of people trying to leverage on the success of social networks by implementing social applications. However, implementing social applications is complex, due to the requirements and constraints put by the social networks to protect their data. In this work we present Simple Flow, a tool that simplifies the creation of social applications. Simple Flow proposes a processes-based approach to the design and execution of social applications. Simple Flow targets end-users and programmers with no experience in programming for social networks, giving them the possibility to design processes by concatenating social network actions (like post a message or comment a photo). For the execution of the designed processes Simple Flow interconnects, at runtime, template web pages (one page per action) according to the process design defined previously. These templates abstract the complexities of the interactions with social networks. © Springer International Publishing 2013.