October 21, 2011

As reported earlier this week, on October 15 Facebook changed its methodology for reporting user counts of its apps. Essentially, it ceased tracking 'visitors' that engaged with certain elements around a game, but didn't explicitly login to it. This discrepancy has long been in play, but very difficult to discern; game operators obviously have internal knowledge of the difference between formal users and those who simply visit around-game aspects, but there was no incentive to disclose, in light of the superior numbers Facebook itself would report (the exception, of course, being Zynga and its mention of this fact in its S-1 filing from earlier in the year).

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