The Facebook Application Platform

by Tim O'Reilly and the O'Reilly Radar Team, with Niall Kennedy & Dave McClure
October 2007. Updated November 2007, final update February 2008.
PDF

Facebook bet that opening its Application Platform would spur growth and build buzz, giving it an edge in the white-hot social network popularity contest. Four months and nearly 5000 applications later, it looks like that bet is paying off. Is Facebook the next platform for profits, too?

Find out what it takes to launch a successful Facebook application, understand the new rules of the application development game in a Web 2.0 world, and get the scoop on the most popular Facebook apps in this new report from Tim O'Reilly and the O'Reilly Radar team.

The Report:

• Sizes up the Facebook opportunity--who's making money, and how?
• Lays out best practices of marketing with Facebook Applications, aka Social Media Optimization (SMO)
• Identifies the top 200 Facebook applications
• Goes beyond Facebook, and scopes out the emerging widget economy

Final update--February 2008:

• Every chart and graph is updated, including adoption rate and average usage by category and by vendor
• Shows the current top 200 Facebook applications
• Analyzes the changing usage patterns of Facebook applications

The social network economy is sizzling, and "The Facebook Application Platform" is a must-read for anyone who wants in on the Facebook opportunity.