The incredibly popular social networking site Facebook launched the Facebook Platform on May 24, 2007, establishing a foundation for software developers to generate Facebook Applications that evolve with and accessorize core Facebook features.http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/24/technology/facebook.fortune/

At the same time, a markup language called Facebook Markup Language was introduced; this language is utilized to personalize the "look and feel" of Facebook applications that developers generate.http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/21

With the Platform, Facebook founded several commemorative new applications, such as Gifts, which enabled Facebook users to purchase and exchange virtual gifts; Marketplace, which enabled users to put up classified ads at no cost; Events, which lends users a device for enlightening their acquaintances about future events; and Video, which enables users to post and distribute homemade videos with other Facebook users. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/article768690.ece

Popular applications that have been developed on the Facebook Platform are often in a game format, such as chess. With such turn-based games, a user's moves are set to memory on the website, allowing for flexibility on the next move, which can be made at any time.http://www.facebook.com/chessplay

By November 3, 2007, as many as seven thousand applications had been created on the Facebook Platform; another hundred are, statistically, developed every day.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201894_pf.htmlOn July 23rd, 2008, at the second annual f8 developers conference, the number of applications grew to 33,000.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/23/BU7C11TAES.DTLThe number of registered developers has exceeded 400,000.http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=48242