Not all of Facebook’s users play games — but if you use its iPad app, the social networking company is fairly sure you do.
An update to the app will start rolling out today that gives games a slightly more prominent place. When the tablet is turned on its side in landscape mode, users will see a few new sections in the sidebar, including “My Games” and “Popular Games.” And those sections will show up for everyone — gamer or not.
That’s because Facebook’s internal data shows that 70 percent of its iPad users do play mobile games that connect to its app platform Canvas. That’s a big enough chunk that the company doesn’t plan to target the new design beyond making it just an iPad thing, at least for now.
“This is not targeted at any particular subset,” North American games partnerships head Dan Morris said in an interview with Re/code. Games and entertainment, he added, are the “central use case for tablets.”
The “Popular Games” section will show video trailers for iPad games that are either popular on Facebook generally or among your friends in particular. Morris said he expects it to eventually include paid ad units as well, but that there will always be a “healthy mix” of organic and paid recommendations.
Also included in the mobile app update: The addition of the trending topics box already found in the desktop view, and a new iPad-only trending video box.
