14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is making a couple of changes to the way developers can get their apps in front of users. The first is dropping the current App Directory, which sees little use. The second is to make it easier and more direct to submit an app to the Facebook search engine.
"Many developers have been confused about what it means to submit to the App Directory and frustrated by the length of time it took to get approved," Facebook's Carl Sjogreen wrote.
"As we have looked into this issue, we found that the App Directory drove less than 0.5% of all app installs while a significant number of app installs came as a result of Facebook search," he said.
Of course, the fact that Facebook has de-emphasized the App Directory in the past few years and hasn't even been linking to it from the site recently, may have had something to do with that.
Still, Facebook is dropping the feature, at least for now, and will focus on search exclusively. It is also enabling developers to add their apps to the search index directly, without going through the now-defunct App Directory, as was required before.
"We are removing the App Directory (in its current form) since it does not drive a significant amount of traffic to your apps; We are creating a new, simplified way to get your app into the Facebook search index," he listed the two main changes.
Developers of new apps that are not already listed in the search results and which have at least 10 monthly active users can use the new "Submit to Search" link to have their app added.
However, this may still take up to three days until the app shows up in search results. After that though, subsequent updates will be pushed automatically, with no review. Of course, there is no approval needed to publish an app on the Facebook Platform in the first place.