Tapping into social media just got a whole lot easier for many application developers now that social networking giant Facebook is extending its platform into mobile.

Facebook, which had been expected to make a big mobile strategy announcement for months, said this week that it is extending its platform into mobile and has introduced an iPad application. The mobile expansion will enable application and game developers to reach the 350 million people who use Facebook every month via a mobile device.

?This will just make it orders of magnitude easier for app developers to tap into the social graph,? said Daniel Ruby, director of online marketing at Localytics, Cambridge, MA. ?Send your users out to share you in various ways with their friends without having to send them out of your app ? brilliant.

?I think that Facebook has fundamentally changed the way app developers have to think about social integration,? he said. ?Facebook has made their way into nearly 20 percent of apps with a limited selection of possible actions ? share, like and comment.

"Apps within apps makes such a huge difference though ? I can see news apps building Facebook-powered highly-social crossword and Sudoku games into their apps, for one.?

Big step forward
Apps and games from a variety of companies such as Flixster, Gilt Groupe, Huffington Post and Zynga  are already available. Most were built using HTML5 so they can work across iOS, Android and other mobile devices.

Facebook also said it will extend its native support for more mobile platforms such as Android in the near future.

The features being offered in mobile for the first time include bookmarks, requests and news feeds. 

As a result, users can access Facebook via their iPhone, iPad and Facebook?s mobile site to bookmark mobile versions of apps.

?By opening up the platform to mobile for all of the games that have made Facebook so successful on the desktop, this is a major step forward for Facebook in terms of its mobile strategy,? said Jed Williams, analyst and program director at BIA/Kelsey, Chantilly, VA.

?Mobiles users have been missing so much of the functionality that has made the desktop experience so rich for users,? he said.

These developments could make it easier for app developers to get found by consumers.

?One of the biggest problems in Apple?s App Store is that it is very crowded and hard to be discovered by the right users,? Mr. Williams said.

?Facebook bringing in sharing and recommendation functionality to mobile apps should go a long way toward helping developers be discovered,? he said. ?And, being discovered by targeted users and buyers is important to the entire app developer economy.?

Media consumption
Facebook is also extending Facebook Credits to support mobile apps.

Just as with apps on Facebook, mobile apps must use Facebook Credits as their exclusive payment mechanism.

Facebook Credits are not available in iOS apps or mobile apps running within a Facebook iOS app.

The new iPad app from Facebook enables it to present photos, messaging and other content in a rich way.

Some of the features include the ability to chat with friends from the iPad, play games, use apps in full-screen mode, watch high-res video inline, record HD video and stream to Airplay devices.

?When you consider the deals that Facebook has done with movie companies and its pending arrangements with music companies, the idea of Facebook as just a social network is limited ? it is a much more fundamental media consumption platform,? Mr. Williams said.

?Major content producers view Facebook as a destination not just a referral anymore,? he said.

?The marriage with where Facebook is going and what the iPad delivers is a really powerful combination.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York