The Facebook Platform was launched in 2007, allowing third-party developers to create applications that accessed Facebook data. Originally called "Canvas", it enabled apps like games to exist within Facebook. Over time, Facebook expanded the platform by launching Facebook Connect in 2008, allowing external websites to connect to Facebook accounts, and the Like button in 2010. The Open Graph launched in 2011 let developers more deeply integrate apps. These changes helped grow the platform to quarter of a billion monthly active users playing games and billions in annual revenue for developers.

1. THE HISTORY OF FACEBOOK'S
DEVELOPER PLATFORM

2. The Facebook Platform is a software environment provided by the social
networking service Facebook for third-party developers to create their own
applications and services that access data in Facebook.
Launched on May 24, 2007, the platform offers a set of programming
interfaces and tools which enable developers to integrate with the open "social
graph" of personal relations and other things like songs, places, and Facebook
pages.
Applications on Facebook.com, external websites, and devices are all allowed
to access the graph.
FACEBOOK PLATFORM

3. • A Blank Canvas
• Connecting People with Apps
• The Open Graph
• The New Timeline
• Future
HISTORY OF FACEBOOK
PLATFORM

4. • The Facebook Developer Platform started as a way for third-party developers
to embed apps into the Facebook experience.
• This was referred to as ―Canvas‖. It opened the door for companies like Zynga
to create apps and particularly games that existed within the walls of
Facebook.
• Facebook currently has a quarter of a billion people playing games on the
social network in any given month. It paid out roughly $2 billion to developers
just last year.
• Canvas is for the most part unchanged from its launch 7 years ago. Since that
launch, it has become more and more important to users and has continued to
grow — currently reaching higher profits than ever.
A BLACK CANVAS

5. • In 2008, Facebook launched Facebook Connect. It was the first way for
people to connect to their Facebook accounts from an external website.
• According to Facebook officials, the reason behind the decision is ―there
were many developers who didn’t want to necessarily fit inside the
Facebook frame, and we still wanted to offer an opportunity for those
applications to be social‖.
• Currently more than 10 million apps and websites are integrated into
Facebook.
CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH
APPS

6. • Another way Facebook started to connect with the outside world was with
the Like button. Launched in 2010, Facebook launched the social plug-in
as a way for developers to get more social.
• The Like button coupled with Facebook Connect has proven to be a
winning combination on Facebook, with many of the world’s largest
websites offering some sort of Facebook experience on top of their
existing app or service.
CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH
APPS (CONT.)

7. • In 2011, Facebook let developers integrate even deeper with the social
network through the open graph.
• For example, applications such as Nike+ that share information on your
run. Using Nike+, Facebook users can share that they’re going on a run
with friends.
• ―We’re starting to see not just games being successful on the platform,‖
says Doug Purdy (Director of Platform Product).
• ―If you look at the lifestyle apps that are really part of who you are, we’re
seeing an enormous amount of those coming to the Facebook platform.‖
THE OPEN GRAPH

8. • Goodreads, for example, is a company that uses Facebook's Developer
Platform to help friends share book recommendations with each other.
• "Developing for each new iteration of the Facebook platform has had a
huge impact on our growth, especially in the last couple of years," Otis
Chandler, CEO and cofounder of Goodreads told Mashable.
• "By January 2012, Goodreads had grown to 6.5 million members.
Facebook Timeline launched at that point and that's when we saw a huge
jump in signups and traffic from Facebook. There are now more than 18
million members on Goodreads and a large part of that is due to
Facebook.
THE OPEN GRAPH (CONT.)

9. • All those things led up to Facebook’s recently redesigned Timeline, which
features different sections for different types of content you’re interested in.
• Last year, Pandora integrated into the Facebook Timeline, bringing the music
you listen to and like on the service to your Facebook profile where your
friends can see it.
• In the case of Pandora, the content you share is stored in a special ―Music‖
section on your Timeline.
• ―For us, this is really about trying to take these third-party applications that are
creating the story of your life – whether or not it’s a game, all the way to what
food I’m eating — and having great homes for those in News Feed or
Timeline, or eventually into Graph Search‖.
NEW TIMELINE

10. • Mobile is playing a huge role in the future of the web and also the future of Facebook.
• Paper by Facebook has changed the mobile experience into a totally new thing.
• Facebook Developer Platform will keep brining new experiences for mobile users.
• Facebook Platform is designed in a way to be device-agnostic.
• Whether you’re interacting with the web on your computer, tablet, smartphone or even
Google Glass — Facebook can be right beside you.
• ―This isn’t really Facebook platform versus these other things. Facebook platform is
something that puts people at the center of all those platforms‖. (Mark Zuckerberg)
FUTURE

11. Emily Price. (2013). ―How the Facebook Developer Platform Has Changed
How We Use the Web‖. Retrieved from
http://mashable.com/2013/05/25/facebook-developer-platform/ on March
25, 2014.
Stephen Buck. (2013). ―The History of Facebook's Developer Platform
[INFOGRAPHIC].‖ Retrieved from
http://mashable.com/2012/05/24/facebook-developer-platform-
infographic/ on March 25, 2014.
Cygnis Media. (2013). ―Facebook Introduces Shared Albums.‖ Retrieved from
http://www.cygnismedia.com/blog/facebook-shared-albums/ on March
25, 2014.
RESOURCES