Facebook axes the App Directory, expects users to find apps through search

Facebook is closing its App Directory, with users now expected to find applications solely through search, the company said in a blog post.

Carl Sjogreen, the post’s author, says that less than 0.5% of all app installations come from the App Directory, with search driving a “significant number.”

There’s now a “Submit to Search” link in the Developer pane for apps. Facebook says that while it can take up to 72 hours to appear in search listings, there is no approval process at all for Facebook apps to appear in search results.

While it seems that the App Directory wasn’t performing for developers in the first place, the company has moved more of the onus for marketing applications onto the developers themselves with this move.