Facebook Platform

Definition - What does Facebook Platform mean?

The Facebook Platform is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) and tools provided by Facebook to third-party developers, allowing them to create applications to interact with core Facebook features.

Thousands of applications have been developed on the Facebook Platform since its introduction in 2007, providing Facebook users with broad integration between Facebook and the other applications and websites they use.

Techopedia explains Facebook Platform

The Facebook Platform is made up of several high-level components:

  • Graph API: Allows application developers to read from and write data to Facebook. Graph API provides an overview of the Facebook social graph and the relationships between entities therein.
  • Authentication: Allows applications to interact with Facebook, allowing users to sign on to various applications through Facebook via a PC, mobile phone or desktop app.
  • Social Plugins: Extensions of Facebook such as the Like Button that allow developers to give their users a social experience through Facebook without gaining access to Facebook users' information.
  • Open Graph Protocol: Allows developers to integrate their pages with Facebook.
  • IFrames: Allows third-party developers to create applications that can be accessed via Facebook login, but that are hosted separately from Facebook.
  • Microformats: The use of hCalendar for events and hCard for venues. This allows Facebook users to move these details to their own calendars or to mapping applications.

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