Facebook Merges Verified Apps and Great Apps Programs

Last year Facebook announced two programs, Verified Apps and Great Apps, to offer users an easier way to find quality apps and developers a great way to get exposure, something increasingly important in a market inundated with new apps every week. The programs however didn't quite work out like Facebook intended apparently, as the site decided to merge the two, leaving just Verified Apps.

Facebook’s application program has proven very successful for the social network but also for a large number of developers creating apps for the platform. But with the ever increasing number of apps how would a user decide which one is better, more reliable, safer, etc.? That is the question Facebook set out to answer when it launched the Verified Apps and Great Apps programs, guaranteeing the security and usefulness of the apps sporting them.

The Verified Apps label would be given to applications that had been tested by Facebook and were found to be safe and trustworthy. Finally released in May 2009, the program featured 120 apps when it was launched. However, this would have been just the first step and for an app to get the “Verified” certificate it would have to meet some requirements concerning security and not much else.

The second stage would have Facebook award the “Great Apps” label only to the best apps in their category or the ones that stood out in one way or another. The draw for the developers would be the greater visibility for their apps as well as other treats from Facebook. For some reason though this second program never came to fruition and now it has been canceled altogether.

“We decided to merge Great Apps with the App Verification program, as they achieve similar goals of helping users identify trusted applications and rewarding the developers who create them. Given the high quality of the applications that have come through the Verification Program and the positive response by users, we believe focusing on one program will provide the best outcome for both users and developers,” Facebook is telling us now.