Joshua March Application Design: does the ‘Facebook Style’ really matter?

The ‘Facebook Style’

Hybrid

… and not at all

My Research Looked at top 50 apps on Facebook, by most active users Scored them 1 for FB style, 0.5 for Hybrid and 0 if not at all Also noted the type of application, and their daily active use %

Looked at top 50 apps on Facebook, by most active users

Scored them 1 for FB style, 0.5 for Hybrid and 0 if not at all

Also noted the type of application, and their daily active use %

Findings TYPE NO. DAU Full 30 6% Hybrid 10 6.7% Not 10 10.6% 15 apps with over 10% DAU. FB Design score: 7.5 (0.5) 20 apps with 4% or less DAU. FB Design score: 18 (0.9)

TYPE NO. DAU

Full 30 6%

Hybrid 10 6.7%

Not 10 10.6%

15 apps with over 10% DAU. FB Design score: 7.5 (0.5)

20 apps with 4% or less DAU. FB Design score: 18 (0.9)

Application types? TYPE No. FBDS* DAU Game 23 13.5 (0.59) 10% Functional 17 15.5 (0.92) 4% Community 6 5 (0.83) 6% (inc. Dating) * “Facebook design score”

TYPE No. FBDS* DAU

Game 23 13.5 (0.59) 10%

Functional 17 15.5 (0.92) 4%

Community 6 5 (0.83) 6%

(inc. Dating)

Summary Most of the top apps on FB still have some aspect of FB design More and more apps are breaking away from this - and these apps show the highest engagement However - games have both high engagement and a bigger tendency to break away from the constraints of FB design, skewing the results

Most of the top apps on FB still have some aspect of FB design

More and more apps are breaking away from this - and these apps show the highest engagement

However - games have both high engagement and a bigger tendency to break away from the constraints of FB design, skewing the results

Conclusion People love Facebook because of its ease of use and clean design, and the top ‘functionality’ apps stick to this design Where apps break away from the normal FB usage (e.g. games), trying to constrain them into the FB design can be messy - the opposite of what FB users want! Think about where your app will sit in the app ecosystem - if most of the activity will be on the canvas page then a bespoke design is just as effective as an FB design (50% of top engagement apps) and may be better suited.

People love Facebook because of its ease of use and clean design, and the top ‘functionality’ apps stick to this design

Where apps break away from the normal FB usage (e.g. games), trying to constrain them into the FB design can be messy - the opposite of what FB users want!

Think about where your app will sit in the app ecosystem - if most of the activity will be on the canvas page then a bespoke design is just as effective as an FB design (50% of top engagement apps) and may be better suited.

More information: Email me: josh@inetworkmarketing.co.uk My blog: www.joshuamarch.co.uk