Facebook is updating its app for iPad with a new sidebar that will feature suggestions of new games to try as well as trending topics and videos. Game developers can register for free to have their apps included, although the feature may be monetized in the future.
More than 70 percent of those who use Facebook's iPad app have used it to play a Facebook-connected game in the last 90 days. The company is capitalizing on this trend by featuring popular games in the new sidebar.
"This update will surface content on the right-hand side of the iPad that's relevant to how people use tablets today, which is primarily to read news, watch videos and play games," says Victor Medeiros in a statement.
The iPad app's new sidebar for will also display messages and reminders about games the user has played in the past in an effort to keep players engaged over time. These may be include notifications that it's your turn to play in a multiplayer game, or requests from friends who also play the game. Developers who connect with Facebook either by building the game on the website's Canvas platform of by featuring a Facebook login option are eligible to have their games displayed in the sidebar. Developers are also required to resiter the app with Facebook and upload a video trailer which will be used in the advertisement.
In addition to trailers of popular games, the sidebar will contain trending videos. The videos will be selected based on how often they are being shared among members of the user's demographic. Hitting the third of the three common tablet uses Facebook identified, the trending topics feature will be rolled out on iPad. Trending topics are already displayed on the desktop version of the website, and are selected based on your interest and the number of hits they've received recently. Each topic contains a link to a news article on the story, as well as related posts on Facebook.
Currently promotion through the iPad sidebar is free, however Facebook will sell some of the advertising space to developers in the future.
"There will be ad units somewhere down the road," Facebook's Dan Morris told Tech Crunch. "We definitely envision allowing developers to promote their apps with some ad element. But for now we're just trying to do good for mobile developers and mobile gamers."
The addition of ads inviting users to install a particular app on mobile devices in 2012 has been a major source of revenue for Facebook. In fact, mobile ads accounted for 59 percent of the company's total advertising earnings in the first quarter of 2014. The new sidebar on the iPad version of the app creates more ad space in a convenient location, and the video trailers could draw more users to at least take a look at the games presented. The sidebar update is only available for U.S. users at the moment, but will be rolled out to other countries soon.
