Facebook is extending its Facebook Platform on Mobile effort to Google's Android operating system, two months after launching the app discovery and distribution initiative across Apple's iOS and the mobile web.
The new Facebook for Android 1.8, available for download from Google's Android Market, touts a redesigned mobile user interface and social channels to improve discovery and engagement with mobile web apps. Users can now identify new Android apps via Facebook Platform features like Requests, Bookmarks, News Feed and Search. Developers can also integrate features like Authenticated Referrals and Facebook Credits to acquire, engage and monetize users.
"Facebook Credits works identically on Mobile Web Apps on Android as it does on Apps on Facebook, and provides a safe, easy way for users to pay for virtual and digital goods," software engineer Raghu Chandrasekaran writes on the Facebook Developer Blog. "The same policies also apply to mobile web apps, including the requirement to use Facebook Credits as their exclusive payment mechanism."
Facebook expanded its Platform APIs and developer tools to the mobile ecosystem in early October, promising to roll out new features and support for additional operating systems in the months ahead. "We see this driving strong user growth to mobile app developers, sending millions of users to their apps through Facebook social channels," Chandrasekaran states. "For example, Snap Interactive experienced 70 percent growth in daily user logins to their iPhone app shortly after we introduced the new features."
In addition to Facebook Platform integration, Facebook for Android 1.8 brings a series of enhancements highlighted by faster photos and albums, more efficient photo sharing and viewing, new push notifications and a new left-hand menu. The changes bring the Facebook for Android user experience closer in line with Facebook for iOS.
Facebook now tops 800 million users worldwide, with more than 350 million users accessing the platform via mobile device each month. In September, Nielsen reported Facebook is now the most popular mobile app across all operating systems.
