Over 70 percent of people who use Facebook for iPad played a Facebook-connected game in the past 90 days, so the company is helping them discover or re-engage with games through a new homepage sidebar it starts testing yesterday on its iPad app.It includes social notifications for native mobile and Facebook web games you already play, video trailers for games you don’t, plus Trending news articles and Trending videos popular with your demographic.The growth opportunities could entice more developers to integrate Facebook into their games, and Facebook plans to eventually sell ads for games in this space. By filling the extra screen space with what tablet users love, Facebook hopes its home on iPad can become a more essential part of people’s lives,even if that means bouncing them into other apps or showing them YouTube videos.
For now the test will run to iPad users in the U.S. but eventually is likely to reach all iPad users. There are no immediate plans for a smartphone version of the sidebar, but something similar could be tucked into a sub tab since there isn’t space to display it all the time.
In 2012,Facebook found a huge money maker in the form of mobile app install ads. The proliferation of apps overwhelmed the iOS and Android stores, leaving devs desperate for ways to grow. Facebook leveraged its massive mobile engagement and targeting data to sell developers News Feed ads that score them downloads.Now Facebook is using its new iPad app sidebar to simultaneously help users find games, lure iOS and Android game developers into adding Facebook integrations, and open up more app install ad space.
The first is Popular Games. This section shows off the video trailers for games Facebook thinks you might want to play. Watch the trailer, and if you like it, click through to download or sign up for the game.
The second opportunity is My Games. This shows people in-app notifications for games they already play, which Facebook knows about through the data it collects from its log-in system. These could include friend requests, someone asking for help with a level, or a notice that it’s their turn to move.
Beyond games, the sidebar houses two other sections. One is a mobile version of the Trending topics sidebar inspired by Twitter that Facebook launched on the web early this year. Rather than just some cryptic word or hashtag leading to a list of mentions like on Twitter, Facebook’s trending topics come with short descriptions explaining why they’re popular. Clicking through provides a canonical link to a news story about the trend, as well as mentions by your friends and other news outlets
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