A dramatic increase in traffic has resulted for publishers that have built and deployed widgets on the now-open Facebook platform, according to an analysis of Quantified Publishers* by open internet ratings service Quantcast Corporation, reports MarketingCharts.

"Just six weeks into Facebook's open platform initiative, we are seeing striking results," said Konrad Feldman, cofounder and CEO of Quantcast, which terms the phenomenon "The Facebook Effect."

Since Facebook's open platform initiative began on May 25, three leading widget publishers, each with multiple applications running on the Facebook platform, have seen significant growth in daily unique visitors, according to Quantcast data:

• Slide, the leading personal media network, has more than tripled its global reach in website traffic:
  • Slide grew domestic US daily unique visitors from approximately 312,000 to more than 1.1 million, an increase of 265 percent.
  • Slide grew global daily unique visitors from approximately 753,000 to more than 2.3 million, an increase of 207 percent.
• HOTorNOT, an early leader in social media, has doubled its global reach in website traffic:
  • HOTorNOT grew domestic US daily unique visitors from approximately 182,000 to more than 350,000, an increase of 98 percent.
  • HOTorNOT grew global daily unique visitors from approximately 289,000 to more than 722,000, an increase of 152 percent.
• RockYou, creator and distributor some of the most popular self-expression widgets, has more than tripled its global reach in website traffic:
  • RockYou grew domestic US daily unique visitors from approximately 145,000 to more than 521,000, an increase of 228 percent.
  • RockYou tripled its global reach, increasing global unique visitors from approximately 286,000 to more than 1.3 million, an increase of 339 percent.

These charts show the relative growth in daily unique visitors for domestic (US) and global audiences for the three sites:

US & Global data, separate

US & Global data, combined

*Note: Quantified publishers are those that have joined Quantcast's Quantified Publisher program and added pixels to their web pages for direct measurement.