Inside Facebook
Applications
Presented by
Greg Narain
July 2007

The Opportunity
Why is the Internet increasingly
obsessed with Facebook?
July 2007

What is Facebook?
“a social utility that
connects you with the
people around you.”
July 2007

Facebook Growth
• More than 30M active users*
• More than 100K new registrations daily
• Avg. 3% weekly growth
• 35% growth since launching applications
July 2007

Facebook Growth
July 2007

Facebook Users
• Over 47K regional, work, collegiate & high
school networks
• More than 50% of Facebook users are
outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those
25 years old and older
• Maintains 85% market share of 4-year U.S.
universities
July 2007

Enter Applications
• Facebook launched Facebook
Applications in May 2007
• Created a massive virtual pegboard for
3rd party widgets and applications
• Application growth is tremendous
July 2007

Viral Growth
“The viral loop of people inviting each other to
most social networks revolves around a user
posting a widget to their page and having friends
see their page.
The viral loops for Facebook (there are multiple)
revolve around the news feed, the mini-feed and
the invite request. Not around people coming to
your page and interacting with it”
- Lance Tokuda, CEO, RockYou
July 2007

Explosive Growth
July 2007

Explosive Growth
July 2007

Explosive Growth
65M Apps Installed
2.5 Apps / User
(June 2007)
July 2007

Open Opportunity
• Facebook applications can embed advertising
and sponsorship - no revenue sharing
• Facebook applications can run from your
servers giving you accountability and metrics
• Facebook applications can drive
memberships and traffic for your properties
July 2007

Competitive Space
• 1000+ applications in the Application
Directory
• 100s new applications pending
• 100s applications in the Underground
Directory
• 40K registered developers
July 2007

The Framework
How are Facebook Applications built?
July 2007

Anatomy of an
Application
Facebook
applications can
take on many
different forms
Left Navigation Bar
July 2007

Anatomy of an
Application
Facebook
applications can
take on many
different forms
Main Canvas
July 2007

Anatomy of an
Application
Facebook
applications can
take on many
different forms
Profile Box
July 2007

Wealth of Data
• Relationship Status
• Education & Employment Data
• Geographic Data
• Interests & Affinities
• Not their contact information though!
July 2007

Mass Communication
• News Feed - seen by all friends
• Mini Feed - seen by profile visitors
• Messages - direct messages between users
• Forums - focused around applications
July 2007

The Strategy
How do we build our own apps?
July 2007

Leverage The System
• Network - each user brings with them a
network of friends that can become involved
• Media - Facebook stores media for users that
can be re-combined
• Applications - emerging crops of
applications provide opportunities for cross-
pollination
July 2007

Source the Crowd
• Build something interesting - since nestled in a
social networking context, apps must be social
• Consider the edges - new ideas can often emerge
by considering the edge cases of your core business
• Be an iceberg - while most apps are purely
entertaining now, more complex ones are expected;
offer great value and power below the surface
July 2007

Follow the Leaders
• Q & A - provide users with a way to poll their
networks and yours for answers to questions
• Gaming/Rating - provide users with a way to interact
with data in new and interesting ways
• Application Lite - provide a lightweight version of
your site or service via the Facebook platform
• Entertainment - provide the user with a method to
entertain themselves and their friends
July 2007

Contact
• Blue Whale Labs
– http://bluewhalelabs.com/
– info@bluewhalelabs.com
July 2007