Facebook announcement: a FAQ, video plus all-involved companies list

Facebook is holding their "f8" event today in San Francisco. For real-time notes, check Webware (they have live video) and TechCrunch.

Facebook is currently the the 18th most visited site on the web according to Alexa and traffic analysts Hitwise.

Here is a list of the companies included in the first-stage of the new Facebook Platform:

Atomic Mobile, Attendio, Amazon, All Widgets llc, Box.net, Bunchball, Picnick, Chumby, Channels.com, Dogster, EF Tours, Ether, Fashion for the People, FeedBurner, Fliptrack, Forbes.com, Ford Models, Glimpse.com, Hot or Not, I Like, Jangl, Lending Club, Localplatform, Microsoft, Mog, Mosoto, Obama for America, Oodle, Pickspal, Platial, Plum, Project Agape, Prosper, Photobucket, Qoop, Radar, Rapleaf, Red Bull, RockYou, Rupture, Scrapblog, Scribd, Sidestep, Slide, Snapvine, Splashcast, Terralever, The Founders Fund, Twitter, Uber, U Playme, Veoh, Viagogo, Virgin Mobile USA, Warner Bros Records, Washington Post, Widgetbox, Yakpack.

Marshall Kirkpatrick from SplashCast sent over the following video of the involved companies for those who do not wish to read the list.

Some other notes about the new Facebook Platform from Marshall include:

FB is announcing the opening of what it’s calling The Platform (a new Platform over the previous read-only API) – a system for 3rd party companies to program their services for use inside of Facebook user pages. As part of the announcement, about 30 preselected companies that have integrated with The Platform ahead of time are being showcased to demonstrate what kinds of things are being made possible. This goes beyond the ability to post media from outside into Facebook and it goes beyond the previous Facebook API (also called The Platform) – outside companies are now being allowed to deploy advanced functionality inside the Facebook site. The companies included in today’s launch were hand picked by Dave Morin, who came over to Facebook from Apple to run this project.

This week’s announcement is fundamentally different because it’s about letting 3rd party developers build inside the Facebook site itself. Different companies have integrated in different ways and to different extents. Companies interested in adding their functionality to the Facebook Platform for internal use will need to apply for acceptance.

Some monetization in Facebook will be permitted, so long as it’s not done on the same pages where Microsoft ads are being run. If FB does allow meaningful monetization to occurr, they could serve as a lifeline to hundreds of small companies that will then take risks, develop innovative new products and change the face of the web.

The entire SplashCast content creation and aggregation proccess is now accesible inside user pages at Facebook. SplashCast, like the other applications, will be accesible through an applications menu on a designated page in Facebook.

Thanks to Marshall for providing this information!