On August 15th 2006, Facebook launched its long-awaited development platform and API. 
Version 1.0 of the Facebook Development Platformallowed developers access to Facebook friends, photos, events, and profile information for Facebook.
The API used a Restful protocol and responses were in an XML format.
Almost immediately, developers began to build social applications, games, and mashups with the new development tools.
The Facebook Development Platform gave Facebook an edge over then popular competitor MySpace, and established itself as the top social gaming platform with games like Farmville.
