New O'Reilly Radar Report--The Facebook Application Ecosystem

For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or interview with the
author, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 827-7314 or kathrynb@oreilly.com

New O'Reilly Radar Report-The Facebook Application Ecosystem
Why Some Thrive--and Most Don't

Sebastopol, CA--In May of 2007, Facebook launched its application
platform, spurring a flurry of development. More than 10,000 applications
were created in the first few months for varying reasons: fun, education,
to steer traffic to other sites, and, overwhelmingly, to find a way to
make money from Facebook's millions of users. In the latest O'Reilly Radar
Report, "The Facebook Application Ecosystem: Why Some Thrive and Most
Don't," author Shelly Farnham and the O'Reilly Radar team offer a deep
analysis of what has worked, what hasn't, and the reasons why. 

Among the questions examined in the report is "what do people use Facebook
applications for?" To arrive at an answer, Farnham and team analyzed the
primary user goals of 261 of the most-used applications. The top five
categories were:

1) Enhanced communication (7.5 million daily active users, 26 percent of
total daily activity over 26 applications). Applications in this category
let users enrich messages with media (SuperWall), telegraph emotions
(SuperPoke!, Emote), and structure or script communications (My
Questions).

2) Social comparison (3.4 million daily active users, 12 percent of total
over 17 applications). These applications allow users to discover how
they're similar or different from others (Likeness), what their rank is on
various social dimensions (Hot or Not), or who shares their tastes
(Movies).

3) Play social games (3.2 million daily active, 11 percent of total over
38 applications). Games that require social connectedness or social
interactions (Zombies, Pirates, Fight Club).

4) Social selection (3.0 million daily active, 10 percent of total over 10
applications). Applications that let users select or filter for most
important friends (Top Friends), or to sort contacts into categories
(Social Circles).

5) Profile enhancement (2.9 million daily active, 10 percent of total over
38 applications). Help users put their best face forward, allowing them to
customize their profile images (Sketch Me), use widgets that proclaim
their values (Books iRead, BibleVerses), and feature groups with which
they identify (Total Sports Fan, which allows users to place team logos on
their profiles).

Going beyond the question of which applications people use, "The Facebook
Application Ecosystem" clearly defines the factors that have had the most
meaningful impact on application adoption. The report examines the
ingredients that must be present for an application to achieve critical
mass, and investigates why--even when all of these ingredients are
present--some applications fail. It also covers the following questions:

-Which application features lead to success?
-What kinds of applications are appropriate for a social networking
platform?
-How can you generate revenue in Facebook?
-Are there untapped opportunities for innovation in Facebook?
-Beyond the fluff: can Facebook be a true application platform? 

Shelly D. Farnham is the co-founder and social architect at Waggle Labs,
which develops innovative social applications. Shelly received her Ph.D in
social psychology at the University of Washington and performed research
and advanced prototyping for seven years at Microsoft Research, focusing
on social networking, mobile social coordinate, and personal analytics. In
2005 she left to consult with startups and teach the social web at the
University of Washington before co-founding Waggle labs in 2007.

Additional Resources:
For more information about the report, including a summary, cover graphic,
and excerpt see:
http://radar.oreilly.com/research/facebook-app-eco-report...
The Facebook Application Platform
An O'Reilly Radar Report
by Shelley D. Farnham, Ph.D.
March 2008, $149.00, PDF 
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

About O'Reilly
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books,
online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media
has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in
on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by
amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the
future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has
a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

# # #

O'Reilly is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.