Facebook and Myspace App Platforms:
A Brief Update
May 10,2009
Ben Lorica
O’Reilly Research
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Overview
 Facebook App platform 2nd year anniversary
- Launch in May-07
 Lately, iTunes has grabbed most press
coverage
- iTunes app store launched Jul-08
 Popular Facebook and Myspace apps
reportedly earning substantial revenue
 Time for a brief update on the Facebook and
Myspace app platforms

Data Description - from O’Reilly Research
 Facebook App Platform: Data from September 2007
 Facebook Demographics: Data from May 2008
 Myspace App Platform: Data from May 2008
U.S.
 iTunes App Store: Data from July 2008

Facebook App Platform - Total Active Usage
There is an upward trend in the Number of Active
Users.
662M
Total Number of Active Users:
All Facebook Apps
Source: O’Reilly Research

Facebook App Platform - Active Usage Per App
As the number of available apps has increased, the
number of active users per app has decreased.
Facebook: Active Users Per App
[ (Total Users of All Apps) / (# of Apps ) ]
~ 10.1K
~ 7.4K
Source: O’Reilly Research

Facebook App Platform - Active Usage Per Member
As the number of (active) members increased from
86M (in Aug-08) to 200M (past week), app usage per
member decreased. However, usage per member has
remained stable since the start of 2009.
Facebook: Usage Per Member
[ (Total Users of All Apps) / (Total Members) ]
~ 4.4
~ 3.4
~ 3.1
Source: O’Reilly Research

Myspace App Platform - Total Installs
There is an upward trend in Number of Users.
~ 182M
Total Installs:
All Myspace Apps
Source: O’Reilly Research

Myspace App Platform - Installs Per App
The upward trend in Number of Users Per app, is
less impressive.
Myspace: Installs Per App
[ (Total Installs of All Apps) / (# of Apps ) ]
~ 33.3K
Source: O’Reilly Research

Outline
 Comparing three app platforms
- # of “Active” Apps: Facebook, Myspace, iTunes
 Distribution of users and apps
- Percentage of apps with at least 100K users
 Major App Categories
 Revenue and the Top App Suppliers
- Revenue: Some recent estimates
- How apps generate revenue
- Top Suppliers: Overall and in the Games category

Number of Apps

Unique Apps - Apps that Appear Each Week
Number of Unique Apps Each Week
First 19 Weeks of 2009
iTunes is adding applications
Platform Launch Dates at a much faster rate
Facebook: May-07
Myspace : Feb-08
iTunes : Jul-08
Source: O’Reilly Research
(through 5/10/2009)
[Normalized to a starting
value of 100 on 1/4/2009]

Unique Apps - Comparing “Size” of Platforms
 In comparing the size of the different platforms, we
tried to exclude inactive applications.
 Unfortunately, the three platforms expose different
metrics.
 After examining data for all the platforms, we
settled on the sets of apps described in the next
slide.

Unique Apps - “Active” Apps Defined
 Facebook Apps with at least 50 active users
 Myspace Apps with at least 500 installs
 iPhone Apps with at least 1 rating

Active Apps - Facebook Has Largest # of Active Apps
Share of “Active” Apps (Active is defined in previous slide)
Facebook ~ 55% , Mypace ~ 61%, iTunes ~ 51%
49K
Number of Active Apps (through 5/10/2009)
Last Three Weeks
Source: O’Reilly Research
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Distribution of Users & Apps

Facebook Apps - Distribution By Active Users
Number of Active Users has decreased slightly:
On average, an app has 300 active users.
PERCENTILE This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/3/2009)
MEDIAN 300 400 400
Limited to apps
75% 1,400 1,600 1,700 with at least
one active user.
90% 5,500 7,400 7,900
95% 19,000 20,400 22,200
99% 146,554 202,150 203,953

Facebook Apps - Apps With Many Active Users
Close to 700 apps had at least 100K ACTIVE users:
0.8% of all apps had at least 100K active users
(limited to apps with at least one active user)
Minimum This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/10/2009)
ACTIVE Users
1 87,401 58,558 45,140
10,000 3,695 (4.2%) 2,803 (4.8%) 2,180 (4.8%)
25,000 1,987 (2.3%) 1,465 (2.5%) 1,180 (2.6%)
50,000 1,207 (1.4%) 877 (1.5%) 748 (1.7%)
100,000 696 (0.8%) 531 (0.9%) 451 (1%)

Myspace Apps - Distribution By Installs
Number of Installs has been increasing:
On average, an app has been installed 2,274 times.
PERCENTILE This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/3/2009)
MEDIAN 2,274 1,932 1,416
Limited to apps
75% 5,377 5,124 4,393 with at least
one install.
90% 13,978 12,495 11,733
95% 34,081 33,932 30,313
99% 824,145 719,047 611,115

Myspace Apps - Apps With Many Installs
114 apps had at least 100K installs:
2.6% of all apps had at least 100K installs
(limited to apps with at least one install)
Minimum This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/10/2009)
Installs
1 4,437 3,982 3,520
10,000 620 (14%) 522 (13.1%) 408 (11.6%)
25,000 274 (6.2%) 231 (5.8%) 196 (5.6%)
50,000 183 (4.1%) 162 (4.1%) 134 (3.8%)
100,000 114 (2.6%) 98 (2.5%) 86 (2.4%)

Major Categories

Facebook App Categories - Share of Active Usage
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Share of Active Usage
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/3/2009)

Facebook App Categories - Users Per Application
Games, Dating, Video, and Alerts attract most ACTIVE users per app.
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
ACTIVE Users (in 000’s)
per Unique App
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/3/2009)

Myspace App Categories - Share of Installs
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/3/2009)

Myspace App Categories - Installs Per Application
Pets, Fun Stuff, Communicating, and Games attract most installs per app.
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Source: O’Reilly Research
INSTALLS (in 000’s)
per Unique App
(5/3/2009)

Revenue
and
Top App Suppliers

Revenue from Facebook & Myspace Apps
 Inside Facebook: Significant revenue from
Game (& other Top) Apps
- Survey of Facebook payment providers indicate 35% YOY
growth in Q1-09 (both in transaction volume and revenue)
 VentureBeat
- Top Developers will generate (a combined) $150M in 2009
- Estimated Total 2009 revenue for Games range from $300M to
$500M
 TechCrunch (via SocialMedia ad platform)
- One SocialMedia client generating $700K monthly
- Other top app developers rumored to be generating $1M
monthly

Revenue from Facebook & Myspace Apps
 Game Apps
- In-game points system that can be used to purchase virtual
goods that enhance users “powers”
- Virtual Goods are important enough that Facebook &
Myspace are considering introducing virtual currencies
- Points system becomes a major source of revenue: Points
can be bought
 All Apps
- Top Facebook Apps sell ads to other Facebook apps
- Offer-based ads: coupons, contests, surveys, software
downloads
- Game apps can be popular for a few months: placing ads on
other top apps allow developers to attract new users

Facebook App Developers - Number of Active Users
There were more than 29,000 developers during the
past week:
2.1% of all developers had apps with at least 100,000 combined active
users
Minimum Total 12 Weeks Ago 24 Weeks Ago
This Week
(5/10/2009)
ACTIVE Users
1,000 22.5% 23.1% 23%
10,000 8.1% 8.3% 7.9%
25,000 5% 5% 4.8%
50,000 3.4% 3% 3.1%
100,000 2.1% 1.9% 2%
Unique 29,023 22,158 18,430
Developers

Top 25 Facebook Developers - ALL Apps
THIS WEEK Active Users in Millions
Total (All Apps) Per App
(5/10/2009)
Source:
4 of the Top 10 were
O’Reilly Research
Game Developers,
including 3 of the
Top 5

Top 25 Facebook Developers - ALL Apps
12 Weeks Ago Active Users in Millions
(2/15/2009) Total (All Apps) Per App
Source:
O’Reilly Research
4 of the Top 10 were
Game Developers,
including 2 of the
Top 5

Top 25 Facebook Developers - Games
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/10/2009) (2/15/2009)
Active Users in Millions Active Users in Millions
Total (All Game Apps) Per Game App Total (All Game Apps) Per Game App

Top 25 Myspace Developers - All Apps
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO Installs in Millions
Installs in Millions
(5/3/2009) (2/8/2009)
Total (All Apps) Per App Total (All Apps) Per App
Source:
O’Reilly Research
Zynga and Flixster are also top app sellers on Facebook

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