Facebook is one of the largest and most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of Q3 2022. As a complex technology company, Facebook utilizes a vast array of applications and services to run its platforms and business operations.
Facebook’s Core Apps
The core Facebook apps that most people are familiar with are:
- Facebook – The main Facebook app used to access Facebook’s social network on mobile devices and web browsers.
- Messenger – Facebook’s instant messaging app for mobile devices and web browsers.
- Instagram – The popular photo and video sharing app acquired by Facebook in 2012.
- WhatsApp – The private messaging app acquired by Facebook in 2014, used by over 2 billion people.
These apps serve as the consumer-facing platforms through which billions interact with Facebook’s social media services every day.
Apps for Content Creation and Management
Facebook employs specialized apps to create, publish, and analyze content across its platforms:
- Creator Studio – An app that allows Facebook Page owners to create, schedule, and analyze content.
- FB Analytics – Provides publishers, marketers, and creators analytics on how their content performs on Facebook.
- Rights Manager – Helps publishers and creators protect and monetize their video content on Facebook.
- Music – Allows musicians to upload and manage their song catalogs on Facebook.
These apps provide robust tools for creating and optimizing content, as well as gaining insights into audience engagement.
Apps for Advertising and Commerce
Facebook leverages various apps to support its advertising business and commerce capabilities:
- Business Suite – An all-in-one app for managing Facebook Business profiles, Pages, ads, and more.
- Ads Manager – Provides advertisers tools to create, manage, and analyze ads across Facebook’s apps.
- Commerce Manager – Enables businesses to easily manage commerce across Facebook apps.
- Shops – Allows businesses to create online stores on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook is strongly focused on enabling businesses to connect with consumers and sell products through its platforms.
Internal Business Apps
To operate its sprawling business operations, Facebook utilizes customized enterprise apps:
- Workplace – An internal social network and communication app for Facebook employees.
- Basecamp – Project management software used by Facebook teams and groups.
- OneSystem – An HR system that manages employee onboarding, payroll, benefits, and more.
- Task Managing System – Used by engineering teams to track tasks, projects, and bugs.
These apps help keep Facebook’s over 87,000 global employees connected, organized, and productive.
Infrastructure and Development Apps
Facebook relies on apps and services focused on infrastructure, operations, and engineering:
- Apache Hadoop – An open-source framework used for storage and large-scale data processing.
- React – A JavaScript library used extensively in developing Facebook’s web apps.
- HHVM – A virtual machine for executing PHP code, used to serve Facebook’s web traffic.
- Chef – An automation platform that allows Facebook to easily deploy software across its infrastructure.
- GraphQL – A query language created internally, used for API development and data fetching.
These behind-the-scenes apps and tools support Facebook’s massive technical infrastructure needs.
Acquired Apps
Facebook has acquired dozens of apps and technologies that are integrated into its broader family of products:
| Acquired App | Year Acquired | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Photo and video sharing app | |
| 2014 | Messaging app | |
| Oculus | 2014 | Virtual reality technology |
| Masquerade | 2016 | Face filter app technology |
| Giphy | 2020 | GIF database and search engine |
Acquiring rising apps like Instagram and WhatsApp has been a key part of Facebook’s growth strategy.
Developer Apps and APIs
Facebook provides developers with tools to build apps and products that integrate with its platforms:
- Facebook Developer Studio – Web-based IDE for building apps on Facebook.
- Facebook SDKs – Enable developers to integrate Facebook functionality into mobile and web apps.
- Graph API – Allows reading and writing access to Facebook social graph data.
- Marketing API – Provides analytics related to Facebook ad campaigns and Pages.
Facebook’s developer platform has been vital in expanding its reach across the web and mobile ecosystem.
Research and Innovation Apps
Facebook relies on experimental and research apps focused on future technologies:
- Building 8 – Facebook’s internal R&D group that develops experimental consumer hardware products.
- Nemo – An AI-powered virtual assistant app Facebook was developing before shuttering it in 2018.
- Spaces – Facebook’s prototype VR hangout app that allows Oculus users to socialize virtually.
- Crypto – A prototype Facebook cryptocurrency wallet app for managing digital currency transactions.
Facebook invests heavily in forward-looking apps and technologies that may become part of its future platforms.
Third-Party Apps Integrated with Facebook
Hundreds of thousands of external apps that users connect with Facebook for authentication, social data, and marketing:
- Spotify – Users can display music listened to on Spotify through Facebook.
- Pinterest – Users can cross-post pins to their Facebook feeds.
- Squarespace – Websites can implement Facebook comment and share plugins.
- Buffer – Social media management platform that allows scheduling Facebook posts.
Facebook’s platform is highly extensible and integrated into the broader app ecosystem.
Conclusion
Facebook leverages a vast range of apps across every aspect of its consumer platforms, business operations, infrastructure, and innovation efforts. Its core apps like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp reach billions of users. Specialized apps help creators manage content and advertisers run marketing campaigns. Behind-the-scenes apps keep the company running smoothly. And Facebook is constantly acquiring, building and prototyping new apps to drive future growth and technology forward. The extent of Facebook’s app universe highlights how integral apps are to every facet of the social media giant.