Facebook today announced new numbers related to Facebook app usage on its site, as well as its integration into mobile platforms like iPhone and Android. The company said that there are now over 350 apps on Facebook.com that each see more than 1 million monthly active users. The company also said that there are nearly 200,000 iPhone and Android applications which are integrated with Facebook, including 9 of the top 10 grossing iPhone applications.
For comparison’s sake, Facebook in August said that it was in 8 of the top 10 grossing apps on iPhone, and in June it was in 7 of the top 10. It did not, however, reveal new numbers as to how many monthly app users it sees on Facebook.com or visiting its App Center, but in August it had 235 million monthly “gamers” and 150 million app visitors. (Update: Facebook has now told us that it sees 220 million people visiting the App Center each month, and more than 251 million people play games on Facebook.com every month.)
In addition, Facebook said today that over 45 percent of the top 400 grossing iOS apps use the Facebook SDK, which demonstrates Facebook’s traction even within the longer tail of mobile applications. The company specifically touted its involvement in several mobile and web apps, calling itself the “social building block” for apps like Deezer, Endomondo, Shazam, Pinterest, Kobo, TripAdvisor, Fab.com, Gogobot, and Foodspotting.
With so many apps sporting Facebook integration, it’s interesting to see Pinterest in that list – it’s the fastest-growing social network the consumer web has seen in some time (well, ever). And as with any social network that gains traction, Facebook has been thinking carefully about how it can address consumer desire on its own site for the features which new networks, like Pinterest, introduce. For example, Facebook recently tested then shut down a feature that mimicked Pinterest functionality, ahead of a reported larger launch around a Pinterest-like favoriting experience called “Collections.”
In any event, it’s notable that Facebook’s messaging today is that Pinterest was built on top of Facebook. In some sense, that’s true – like most apps, Pinterest relies on Facebook and Twitter to rebuild your friend graph on its site. But it also feels a bit like Facebook is diminishing the impact that Pinterest has achieved on its own. After all, for many Pinterest users, their social graph on the site may have initially started off as a duplicate of Facebook’s, but today, Pinterest users’ social graphs have likely changed and grown because Facebook and Pinterest are used for different purposes.
Touting its involvement at this week’s Le Web conference in Paris, Facebook today also made the somewhat surprising reveal that Paris is now the number two city for Facebook Timeline app development, following San Francisco.
Facebook Ranks Top Social Games For 2012
In a somewhat related announcement in terms of Facebook apps integration and traction, Facebook yesterday revealed the top 25 social games for 2012, looking specifically at games that launched in 2012 on Facebook.com as well as mobile games integrated with Facebook. Only games with at least 100,000 monthly active Facebook users were counted. Games were ranked based on user star ratings and positive and negative signals and engagement levels – the same methodology that Facebook uses today to rank games in its App Center.
The music trivia game SongPop was the favorite in 2012, said Facebook, with social mobile games Dragon City and Bike Race coming in at second and third. This is obviously a different list than what you’ll see in the official mobile app stores, beware.
The majority of games came from outside the U.S., including places like France, Spain and the U.K. to Brazil, South Korea, Australia, and Turkey. Fifty-six percent of the games are available on Facebook.com, while the remaining 44 percent are social mobile games.
The full list includes:
• SongPop (FreshPlanet)
• Dragon City (Social Point)
• Bike Race (Top Free games)
• Subway Surfers (Kiloo)
• Angry Birds Friends (Rovio)
• FarmVille 2 (Zynga)
• Scramble with Friends (Zynga)
• Clash of Clans (Supercell)
• Marvel: Avengers Alliance (Playdom)
• Draw Something (Zynga)
• Hay Day (Supercell)
• Baseball Heroes (Syntasia)
• ChefVille (Zynga)
• CSR Racing (NaturalMotion Games)
• Candy Crush Saga (King.com)
• Matching With Friends (Zynga)
• Legend Online (OASIS GAMES)
• Jurassic Park Builder (Ludia)
• Dungeon Rampage (Rebel Entertainment)
• Pockie Ninja II Social (NGames Limited)
• Jetpack Joyride (Halfbrick)
• Social Empires (Social Point)
• Bil ve Fethet (Peak Games)
• Ruby Blast Adventures (Zynga)
• Pyramid Solitaire Saga (King.com)