Facebook has announced plans to create their own central app hub for their social networking site by introducing third party apps in order to attract more users.
This move will make it convenient for users to discover apps integrated into Facebook. Apart from benefiting consumers, it will also benefit developers as they will be able to create and submit their apps which will be featured on Facebook. Until now, users had limited options to discover apps on Facebook and in most cases had to rely on the apps they found by going through their news feeds for apps used by friends. However, Facebook now plans to create a central app hub in order to ensure that users and developers looking for apps are well directed. Unlike those offered by Apple and Google, it is not intended to be an app store.
The concept of ‘social discovery’ which pushes you to try apps which your friends have opted for, will continue to be in place as apps showcased in the App Center will be the ones which are most relevant to you, in the sense, have been used by your friends. Apps that have been internally rated as top apps by Facebook’s system will also be particularly showcased. The success of every app will therefore depend on the quality of the app, judged with the help of user ratings.
Developing and providing better apps for their users will ensure that more number of people spend time on Facebook, depending on the content available to keep them entertained. Facebook is relying on outside developers for this. Developers were welcomed to integrate their applications with the introduction of the Open Graph at a developer conference in 2011. By offering to play audio using Spotify or watch video using Netflix, Facebook is encouraging its users to try out third-party apps.
However, developers can’t entirely rely on ‘social discovery’ for users to opt for their apps in increasing numbers, solely relying on popularity. This demands for a homepage where users can browse through the available apps. The good thing is, Facebook is set to allow developers to put up paid-apps that will help them earn money through Facebook too! By introducing paid apps and increasing the number of apps available for users, Facebook can hope for more number of people engaging in activities online, pulling in increased number of well targeted advertisers, therefore helping them increase revenues.
