This article was published on July 13, 2011

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


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

Joel Falconer is the Features Editor at TNW. He lives on the Gold Coast, Australia with his wife and three kids and can sometimes be found g Joel Falconer is the Features Editor at TNW. He lives on the Gold Coast, Australia with his wife and three kids and can sometimes be found gaming or consulting. Follow Joel on Twitter.

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.

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