Facebook adds directory to help users sort through applications
Facebook has a 'verified apps' program
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Facebook, the world’s largest social-networking site, is helping users sort through the third- party applications that reside on its site with a verification program and improved directory.
Facebook, which has about 52,000 such outside applications, started a “verified apps” program, which highlights software developers that undergo Facebook reviews, Sandra Liu Huang, Facebook platform program manager, said today in an interview. The optional review process costs $375 (€272) for developers and enables them “to stand out in front of users,” Huang said.
The applications are displayed on a new directory that seeks to better organize the programs. The directory includes sections such as the most popular programs, ones that users’ friends enjoy and those that Facebook suggests based on past selections.
“These changes are part of Facebook’s ongoing strategy to clean up various messy areas in the Facebook user experience,” said Ray Valdes, an analyst with Gartner Inc. in San Jose, California. They help “strengthen its competitive position.”
The verification program began with 120 applications. The applications are programs that sit on top of the Facebook site and let users do various social tasks, for example send virtual greeting cards and review books. More than 70 percent of Facebook users tap an application every month.
Facebook has more than 200 million users. It opened its platform to developers about two years ago. (Bloomberg)
- Brian Womack
