Remember: the leaderboard position does not mean much. What’s critical is the context: how did an app get to the top ranks?

Techcrunch and TheNextWeb were quick in spotting that Facebook Poke, the Snapchat clone, got to #1 in the USA. To be accurate, Facebook Poke got to actually #1 in nearly every many countries but not all of them. European and asian countries, but still with a high Rank. And Snapchat beats Facebook Poke in terms of Quality perception in our App score (87 vs 86)

The real story is about how Facebook Poke got there.

Was it Magic? No.

Was it because of the amazing quality of the app? unsure.

Because of an insane viral loop? No proven yet.

What is the likely #1 reason of this sudden burst: A default placement to all its mobile users as you open the App. tens of millions of users have seen the screenshot below. Guess what? That’s enough to get you to the top ranks in nearly every market

That’s the big story.

Is that called a performance? Nope. It’s called an unfair advantage

At least Facebook doesn’t brag about it.