Since the release of Facebook Platform, everyone's being going nuts about Facebook apps. However, there's not been much more than conjecture about what it all means, and little other than the developers site to help you out when building your own. Today we fill that gap.

First, news of the effects on web traffic having a successful app can bring:

• Slide has seen its global reach triple, while daily global unique visitors have grown from 753,000 to more than 2.3m, an increase of 207%.
• HotorNot has doubled its global reach, boosting daily traffic by 152%, from 289,000 to more than 722,000.
• RockYou has also tripled its reach, and daily visitor numbers have risen by 339%, from 286,000 to more than 1.3m.

Secondly, a detailed analysis of the Facebook Platform from a functionality perspective (well worth a read in full), which reveals the implications of the above:

This is a "success kills" scenario – the good news is you're successful, the bad news is you're flat on your back from what amounts to a self-inflicted denial of service attack, unless you have the money and time and knowledge to tackle the resulting scale challenges.

Thirdly, and perhaps inevitably, some tips on how you can make your app stand out by using what's been dubbed NFO (News Feed Optimization):

Optimizing your product’s News Feed items is the single most important thing you can do as a marketer on Facebook. Not only should Feed items be designed for optimal conversion, but they should also be invoked by your application in ways that will maximize their distribution.

And Fourthly, comes news of the London Facebook Developers group:

I thought it would be useful to get the Facebook developers all together in a room, have a beer and share some ideas about Facebook. We plan to have a get-together once a month to share the knowledge

Which should coming in handy if you're looking for help or for someone to develop your app for you…

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