The Facebook annual developer event, known as F8, is a conference hosted by Facebook for software developers and entrepreneurs who build products and services around the social media platform. F8 provides a venue for Facebook to announce major platform updates, new products and services, and other initiatives relevant to the developer community.
When and where is F8 held?
The inaugural F8 developer conference was held in 2007 in San Francisco, California. Since then, it has been held annually in late April or early May, typically at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, F8 was canceled as an in-person event and some announcements were made online instead.
Here is a brief history of when and where F8 has been held:
| Year | Location |
|---|---|
| 2007 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2008 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2009 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2010 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2011 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2012 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2013 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2014 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2015 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2016 | San Francisco, CA |
| 2017 | San Jose, CA |
| 2018 | San Jose, CA |
| 2019 | San Jose, CA |
| 2020 | Online only due to COVID-19 |
| 2021 | Virtual event streamed online |
| 2022 | San Jose, CA (in-person and virtual event) |
As the table shows, F8 was consistently held in the San Francisco Bay Area in its early years. Since 2017, it has been hosted primarily at the larger venue of the San Jose Convention Center to accommodate the growth in attendees. The global pandemic forced F8 to go virtual in 2020 and 2021, before returning to an in-person convention in San Jose in 2022, with a virtual component to increase accessibility.
Who attends F8?
F8 attracts around 5,000 attendees each year comprising primarily of:
- Software developers who build applications integrated with Facebook services
- Entrepreneurs and startups creating products and services on the Facebook platform
- Designers and product managers working on Facebook-related products
- Marketers and advertisers leveraging Facebook
- Academic researchers studying social media and Facebook data
- Members of the press and industry analysts
Developers make up the bulk of participants. They gain insights into new features, APIs, SDKs, tools, and best practices to build better Facebook-integrated products. Startup founders benefit by networking with Facebook product teams and like-minded entrepreneurs.
Facebook employees across engineering, product, marketing, communications, and other roles also attend to interact with partners, hold sessions, and provide demos.
How to get a ticket to F8
F8 tickets are available via an application process:
- When registrations open, developers can apply for tickets on the F8 website.
- They must provide information about their experience building on Facebook and involvement in the ecosystem.
- Facebook reviews the applications and sends invite codes to approved developers so they can register.
- Tickets are free but participants must pay for their own travel and lodging costs.
- The conference often sells out within hours due to high demand.
Facebook aims to be as inclusive as possible by inviting developers from diverse backgrounds, company sizes, geographic regions, and other factors.
What happens at F8?
F8 packs a vast amount of keynotes, workshops, presentations, and networking opportunities into 2-3 days. Some key highlights include:
Keynote addresses
F8 kicks off with a main keynote address delivered by Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives. This opening keynote shares Facebook’s vision, new products like Facebook Horizon, major platform updates such as Graph API changes, and more.
Other keynotes throughout the conference deliver announcements like new Messenger features, Instagram updates, innovations in VR/AR, privacy improvements, and more.
Product demos
Facebook product teams hold demo sessions where they showcase upcoming platform capabilities hands-on. Developers gain early access to new APIs, SDKs, and tools through live coding demos.
Workshops and training
Topic-specific workshops provide technical education on implementation best practices across Facebook Login, Account Kit, App Ads, App Review, and other areas. Training labs offer guidance on design thinking, analytics, and more.
Sessions
Breakout sessions cover a wide range of technical and product topics like migrating to Graph API v13, building chatbots on Messenger, creating AR filters, optimizing mobile apps, and more. Thought leader sessions discuss industry trends.
Office hours
Developers can book 1:1 sessions with Facebook product experts for specific guidance on implementing APIs, troubleshooting issues, or feedback on product roadmaps.
Networking
F8 facilitates networking through conference events, parties, chat groups, and 1:1 meetings. Developers connect with the Facebook team, find potential partners and collaborators, share knowledge, and build their professional network.
Developer Circles gathering
Local Facebook Developer Circle members from the F8 region convene to network, exchange learnings, and discuss regional ecosystem opportunities.
Hackathon
Occurring alongside F8 is a 60 hour partner hackathon where developers build prototypes using new platform capabilities announced at F8. The winning hacks are announced on the final day.
Recruiting
With so many talented developers gathered, F8 doubles up as a recruiting opportunity. Facebook holds interview slots and recruiting events for open positions in engineering, product, design, research, and more.
Major announcements and launches at F8
Some of Facebook’s biggest products and platform updates were first announced at F8 over the years. Here are some noteworthy launches:
2007
- Facebook Platform launch – Allowed external developers to build apps on Facebook for the first time.
2010
- Open Graph launch – Enabled developers to integrate Facebook social data and Graph API across the web.
2012
- App Center launch – Provided a dashboard for people to discover apps built by developers.
2013
- Parse launch – Mobile backend-as-a-service acquired by Facebook to simplify mobile app development.
2016
- Messenger Platform launch – Allowed developers to build chatbot experiences within Messenger.
- React Native open source release – Enabled building native iOS and Android apps with React Native.
2017
- Camera Effects Platform launch – Provided tools for developers to build augmented reality filters and effects.
- Spaces launch in VR – Allowed people to create virtual reality spaces and avatars.
2018
- Oculus Go launch – Facebook’s first standalone, wireless VR headset.
- fbapp.dev site launch – Makes it easier to create and manage apps.
2019
- Horizon VR world announcement – Facebook’s upcoming social VR platform.
- Facebook Dating integration – Allowed dating app developers to integrate with Facebook Dating.
As seen above, many seminal moments in Facebook’s history as a platform provider originated from an announcement on the F8 stage. The event has served as a springboard for products that now see billions of users.
How F8 has evolved
From its early days as a fledgling developer meetup of a few hundred people, F8 has grown into Facebook’s flagship annual event for thousands of ecosystem partners. Some key ways the conference has evolved are:
- Expanded size and attendance – From less than 1,000 initially to over 5,000 attendees presently.
- Broader content scope – Now encompasses Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Oculus, and other Facebook technologies.
- Diversity initiatives – Facebook makes a concerted effort to support developer group diversity through F8 scholarships, travel grants, and accessibility measures.
- Production value – The production scale in terms of venue, stage, videos, and more has increased dramatically.
- Global accessibility – With virtual components, F8 now reaches a global audience beyond just those who can travel to attend in-person.
However, the core emphasis on Facebook’s developer community and enabling ecosystem partners remains unchanged. F8 is still the forum for Facebook to equip developers with the platform updates needed to continue building experiences that bring people together.
Conclusion
In summary, F8 is Facebook’s long-running annual developer conference focusing on updates for the social media platform ecosystem. It brings together around 5,000 developers, entrepreneurs, creators, marketers, and more for keynotes, hands-on learning, and networking. Launched in 2007, it has been instrumental for major product announcements that shaped Facebook’s evolution.
For developers building on top of Facebook, Instagram, Oculus, and other company technologies, F8 provides a glimpse into the future. They gain the knowledge to create better human-centric products that empower people to connect. The event reflects Facebook’s dependance on its developer community and commitment to providing them the best possible platform.