Facebook Research

What Facebook Research does

Facebook Research, as presented on its website, is a crowd-sourced testing and research project operated by Applause App Quality, Inc., a US-incorporated corporation described as a global leader in crowd testing, feedback, and research. The project is explicitly limited to individuals located in India and recruits participants to test a social media application that runs in the background of their mobile devices, with referrals used as the primary recruitment channel. The website carries the Facebook Research brand name and logo, while the legal copyright is held by Applause App Quality, Inc., indicating Applause is the operating entity under the Facebook Research project name.

The project's core offering is a single paid research initiative — the Social Media Paid Research Project India — rather than a multi-product platform. The underlying technology is a mobile social media application whose functionality is exercised passively on participants' devices, enabling collection of real-world usage telemetry and qualitative feedback. Distribution is conducted entirely through a self-serve website hosted on Webnode, with no disclosed app store presence, API, SDK, or third-party integrations. The project reports 15,000+ members joined and approximately ₹1 crore (1 crore+) in cumulative payments to participants as of the latest source data.

The business model is not publicly disclosed: no pricing, contract value, or revenue figure is provided. The "Facebook Research" brand, combined with Applause's operating role, suggests a single-end-client service relationship (Facebook/Meta) executed through Applause's crowd-testing infrastructure, with participants compensated for testing activity. There is no indication of independent funding rounds, M&A activity, management team disclosure, or patents. The website has not been updated since 2018, limiting visibility into current scale, but the project is described as "Running Successfully."

Name

Facebook Research

Legal name

Applause App Quality, Inc.

Website

https://facebook-research.webnode.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Crowd-Testing and Mobile App Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAAALAK

Social & Digital Insights (Social Listening, Online Community Research)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Market Research & Consumer Insights

SECONDARYMPAAALAG

Brand & Advertising Research (Brand Health, Copy Testing, Campaign Effectiveness)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Market Research & Consumer Insights

Keywords

• Crowd testing
• Mobile app research
• Paid research participation
• Feedback collection
• Research program

Headquarters

HQ city

Chennai

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Facebook Research operates a paid crowd-testing research project that recruits individuals in India to install a social media app that runs in the background of their mobile devices and to submit referrals of additional participants. Participants are compensated for allowing their devices to be used for continuous testing and feedback collection. The initiative is operated by Applause App Quality, Inc. as a single focused recruitment and testing program.

Product overview

This website represents a crowd-sourced testing and research initiative operated by Applause App Quality, Inc. The primary offering is the Social Media Paid Research Project India, which recruits individuals in India to test a social media application on their mobile devices. The project is a single focused initiative rather than a platform with multiple modules. As a crowd-testing operation, the service connects testers with apps requiring evaluation, collecting feedback on app performance and user experience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Social Media Paid Research Project India A paid crowd-testing research initiative operated by Applause App Quality, Inc. that recruits individuals located in India to install a social media app on their mobile devices, allow it to run in the background, and submit referrals of new participants. Participants are compensated for ongoing participation.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Direct peers

• Ferpection: Ferpection operates a pay-per-feedback participant network for digital product testing and UX research. Comparable in paid remote participant model and target use cases (mobile app/UX feedback).
• Userlytics: Userlytics provides remote usability testing through a participant panel, delivering recorded user feedback to product teams. Comparable in participant-recruitment and feedback-collection services to enterprise research buyers.
• TryMyUI: TryMyUI runs a usability-testing platform that recruits testers to record their interactions with websites and apps. Comparable model for paid participant usability/feedback collection.
• Applause (uTest): Applause — the legal operator of this project — is one of the largest global crowdtesting and digital-quality platforms. It is the most directly comparable peer because the subject entity is functionally a recruitment/ops layer for Applause's crowdtesting services.
• Testbirds: Testbirds runs a crowd-based testing community that delivers real-device QA and user-experience feedback. Comparable in crowdtesting model and use case overlap for social-media and consumer-app testing.
• UserTesting: UserTesting operates a global human-insights platform that pays participants to test mobile and web apps and provide feedback. Directly comparable in business model, customer (enterprise researchers), and category.
• TestIO: TestIO provides crowd-sourced software testing services via a community of freelance testers on mobile devices. Comparable in offering (paid crowdtesting of mobile apps) and target buyer (app developers/research teams).
• BetaFamily: BetaFamily runs a closed beta-testing community where users test pre-release apps on personal devices in exchange for rewards. Comparable in participant-paid testing model and device-based feedback collection.

Emerging players

• Rainforest QA: Rainforest QA offers on-demand crowdtesting for software releases with rapid turnaround. Comparable only partially — overlaps in crowd-driven QA but more focused on functional QA than behavioral research.
• Respondent.io: Respondent.io is a participant-recruitment marketplace that pays individuals for research studies. Comparable as an enabler for paid research participation, though it spans broader research types beyond mobile-app testing.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/facebookresearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Facebook Research