The Story of FAD: The Official Unofficial Facebook App Directory

Update January 4, 2013: FAD is no longer available, but the good news is that Facebook has created the App Center. You can search for apps by type and also by device such as mobile. Many thanks to Ed for filling that void until Facebook brought back an app directory. You can keep with Ed by following him on on Google+.

The Story of FAD

Summer 2011, Facebook removed the App Directory (What Happened to the Facebook App Directory); leaving users with the search box to find “meaningful apps to use” and developers struggling for exposure for their apps. Developer Ed Propsner,  answered the need for an alternative to “the search” with FAD: The Official Unofficial Facebook App Directory. FAD brought back the directory features that so many miss and once again gave them the opportunity to browse the different app listings as well as serve as a stepping stone for developers to gain exposure for their apps.

Sharing the same frustrations as many others who used the app directory on a regular basis only to have it there one day and gone the next, Ed set out to create his own directory. A few months later FAD was born.

… once the directory went away my new users/app installs dropped as much as 95% in some cases…It has been a struggle getting exposure for that app ever since and it performs nowhere near as well as the apps I had listed in the directory.

It made no sense to get rid of it. The directory was there for those who used it and for those who prefer to search they could do that as well.

FAD was an absolutely free app directory! There was no waiting period; a developer could submit their app and it would instantly be listed in the directory. Also, there were no requirements for minimum monthly users. A developer could submit a category as well as a tag so their app could be found more easily found through a direct search. This especially was a nice feature for users as well as developers.

FAD served its purpose well by bridging the void between the old app directory and the new Facebook App Center. Thanks again, Ed. Your contribution to the Facebook community was much appreciated.