What are Facebook Application Developers?

You may have run across the term "Facebook application developer" while exploring Facebook. A Facebook application developer is someone who writes, designs, and implements programs that integrate with Facebook.

An app can be a way to view the New York Times inside Facebook, a method of organizing your friends and family differently, an addictive game like Farmville or Mafia Wars, or anything you can think of.

As of November 2011, more than 7 million apps and websites are integrated with Facebook.

The F8 Developers Conference, 2011

How Does Facebook Application Development Affect Me?

Facebook application development is not something you need to worry about as a general Facebook user, and you will never have to write any code when using Facebook.

But it's smart to get a general understanding about how Facebook apps are developed, so that you will be a wiser, safer, sexier Facebook user.

Not that you could possibly get any sexier than you already are. Seriously, look at you. 

Who Can Become a Facebook Application Developer? 

Anyone is allowed to write and submit apps for Facebook. At last estimate, there were over a million Facebook application developers.

You can be a 12-year-old kid typing away at your bedroom computer or a multi-billion-dollar mega-corporation like Microsoft, and you can develop apps for Facebook just the same. Ain't the Internet grand?

Of course, the 12-year-old probably doesn't have an astronomical advertising budget to get the word out about the app, but still!

If you are interested in creating a Facebook app, visit developers.facebook.com.


Examples of Facebook Application Developers

The following three examples are some of the most successful Facebook app developers:

The "We're Related" Facebook application helps users find and list their family members on Facebook, which is a convenient way to build a family tree. The genealogists and software developers at familylink.com were the first to company to implement a successful, widely adopted Facebook app for genealogy.

The "BandPage" Facebook app lets bands and musicians share and promote their music with their fans on Facebook. The application developers at RootMusic created the BandPage app, which has been installed by over 250,000 musicians on Facebook as of November, 2011.

A company called Zynga is the most successful Facebook application developer. They're famous for Facebook games like Farmville, Texas Hold 'em Poker and Mafia Wars. As of November 2011, Zynga's apps had over 204 million monthly active users.

Can Facebook Application Developers See My Information?

Facebook developers can see your private information only if you give an application express permission to access your Facebook data. Even when an app is installed and running on your profile, your privacy settings can be set such that only your friends, or even a highly select group, can see your information.

To adjust your app privacy settings, log in to Facebook, and then visit https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=applications.

Closing Remark

As always, this is just a very general introduction to a huge Facebook topic. Let me know if you have any questions! I promise to answer them.