Big Quizzes Go Offline in This Week's List of Top Growing Apps by Monthly Active Users

Is it enforcement day for Facebook? Several of the top placers on this week's AppData list of fastest-gaining apps by monthly active users (MAU) redirect to Facebook's front page, indicating that the network may have at last taken notice of, and action on, shady tactics used by a particular developer. We're not sure, but we think the same developer is behind all the apps in question: Friend Quiz, Friend FAQ, Friend Quizzes - Dating! and Friend Poll!. They're all among the top ten gainers below: Top Gainers This Week Name MAU Gain Gain, % 1. Static FBML 36,892,114 +9,443,232 +25.60 2. Friend Quiz 20,667,405 +8,100,641 +39.20 3. Friend FAQ 13,497,001 +5,736,127 +42.50 4. Slide FunSpace 23,432,250 +1,705,579 +7.28 5. Friends Exposed 18,280,121 +1,153,129 +6.31 6. Marketplace 13,274,027 +1,057,287 +7.97 7. Friend Quizzes - Dating! 1,001,005 +953,245 +95.23 8. How Fast Are You?! PROVE IT 1,915,222 +833,647 +43.53 9. Friends Emotions [Emociones de Amigos] 1,501,781 +746,238 +49.69 10. Friend Poll! 611,274 +597,203 +97.70 11. Bubble Island 1,101,968 +594,265 +53.93 12. Tiki Resort 1,218,159 +575,310 +47.23 13. FarmVille 83,127,751 +561,878 +0.68 14. My City Life 3,908,234 +537,319 +13.75 15. PetVille 19,619,857 +475,914 +2.43 16. Ninja Saga 3,926,247 +453,121 +11.54 17. Video 4 You 1,587,038 +410,554 +25.87 18. MindJolt Games 19,925,788 +398,103 +2.00 19. Daily Photo 6,659,520 +393,930 +5.92 20. Translations 379,238 +374,515 +98.75 On Friday, we explained how these quiz apps were subverting Facebook's developer policies. After Facebook added mandatory opt-outs for users allowing them to decline giving their email address or permission to post to their wall, these apps added in boxes of their own that forced the user to hand over permissions, or else go away. The takedown will be a big blow to the developer, who is listed on two of the apps as FriendQuizzes, Inc. Friend Quiz and Friend FAQ don't list a developer name, but all four are identical in form and function. In total, this group of apps had over 35 million MAU, about as many users as Facebook's third-largest app overall. One developer's (self-inflicted) bad luck could be another's jackpot strike. Topzy, which makes Friends Exposed, should be dancing for joy; its quiz app is very similar to those banned, but it has survived unscathed and free to pick up all the quiz-bereft users. As you can see from its placement at number five above, Friends Exposed was already growing strongly. Rounding out the top growers this week: Static FBML isn't worth more than a passing mention, as it's just a Facebook-built app for customizing Pages that's indirectly picking up users. Slide FunSpace is coming off a growth binge spurred by Slide figuring how to take advantage of Facebook's new policies -- although, obviously, with more respect for the actual rules than the unfortunate quiz developer. Marketplace has a similar story, except its surge came from a sweepstakes.

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Big Quizzes Go Offline in This Week's List of Top Growing Apps by Monthly Active Users

Chris Morrison

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