Inside Facebook

As is typical, Facebook’s latest redesign triggered a torrent of user feedback. This time, Facebook responded quickly by tweaking the home page stream. In response to complaints that too much application content was filling users’ streams, a filter was added that allows users to block either an individual person or an application altogether. This change may slightly limit the stream’s power as a viral channel for applications, but clearly it was a much needed fix that greatly benefits the overall stream experience.

On the whole, the new home page has already proven to be a viral winner for a number of platform applications. The stream provides applications with an unprecedented level of news feed access that many have clamored for, and applications that are taking advantage of the stream through Feed Forms are growing quickly. And not only does the stream deliver prominence for feed stories, but it is perhaps the least regulated distribution channel on the platform today in terms of Platform policies.

Which applications have been early success stories? So far, the answer is clear: quizzes. According to AppData, for the week of March 18 – March 24 13 of the top 20 audience gainers were quiz-based applications. Quiz apps were once immensely popular on the platform, but as rules were added regarding requests, emails, and notifications, this category slowly declined. Thanks to newly compelling feed stories and access to the stream this downward trend has reversed sharply for quiz applications as a whole. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

IQ test – 2,827,492 MAU, +1,459,050 MAU (106.6%) this week

AppData for IQ test

IQ test’s growth has been tremendous, particularly when you consider the application’s 90 day MAU chart shown above.  The application itself is very simple and includes only 7 actual questions. After the user submits answers the publish module is presented, so a high percentage of users are apparently publishing stories to the stream.

Above is the primary feed story the application publishes. Note that the app doesn’t pre-populate any comment text on the user’s behalf, and instead includes text only in the body of the feed.

What is Your Actual Age? – 1,238,525, +722,324 MAU (139.9%) this week

AppData for What is Your Actual Age?

Much like the IQ test app, this application is a very simple implementation that includes a snappy quiz UI with 25 questions.  As shown in the 30 day MAU graph above, the application’s growth has directly correleated with the introduction of the stream.

Shown above is the Feed Form module for the application. While it uses very simple text, the copy is compelling enough to generate the virality needed to grow as such as extraordinary rate.

Movies (by Flixster) – 13,752,039, +1,192,700 MAU (9.5%) this week

AppData for Movies

Movies is a bit of an outlier amongst this group of three apps, insofar as the app has been growing consistently week to week even before the introduction of the stream. Flixster has always been one part movie rating and reviewing community and one part quiz application, with an expansive range of user generated and movie based quizzes. Since the introduction of the stream, Flixster has hooked in the new Feed Forms in a few places throughout their app and so far it seems to be a winning implementation.

As was always the case, a feed story that compels friends to participate in direct response to the feed story’s content are going to perform the best. Choosing the right copy and images are also critical for success in the stream. It’s only been a couple of weeks since the new home page launched – it will be interesting to see how these applications perform with time.