title: Facebook's modified DAU & MAU public app metrics
body: <p>On January 2013, Facebook had changed the way the publicly reported DAU and MAU figures are interpreted. Instead of reporting exact MAU &amp; DAU figures per app, Facebook started categorizing each app into a MAU &amp; DAU tiers, thus reported MAU &amp; DAU numbers are rounded into tiers (or levels). Facebook has also introduced a new approach to metrics: ranks - that indicates how well an application is performing against all other apps. (https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2013/01/09/platform-updates--operation-developer-love/ and see also <a href="http://www.appdata.com/understanding_facebook_ranks" rel="nofollow">http://www.appdata.com/understanding_facebook_ranks</a>)</p>
  
  <p>My question is this:</p>
  
  <p>Indeed when I check Farmville2's usage metrics by visiting <a href="https://graph.facebook.com/321574327904696" rel="nofollow">https://graph.facebook.com/321574327904696</a> I do see the new approach. i.e: DAU and MAU reported figures are rounded up into tiers. No exact figures as before January. See below, MAU is reported in the 10 million tier, DAU reported as above 1 million, i.e: 1m tier.</p>
  
  <p>results:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
     "id": "321574327904696",
     "name": "FarmVille 2",
     "description": "Grow and harvest beautiful crops, raise adorable animals, and craft delicious treats on your very own lifelike 3D farm.",
     "category": "Games",
     "subcategory": "Simulation",
     "link": "https://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=321574327904696",
     "namespace": "farmville-two",
     "icon_url": "http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc7/v85005/104/321574327904696/app_2_321574327904696_1179950008.gif",
     "logo_url": "http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc7/v85005/104/321574327904696/app_1_321574327904696_637315223.gif",
     "company": "Zynga Inc.",
     "daily_active_users": "1000000",
     "weekly_active_users": "5000000",
     "monthly_active_users": "10000000",
     "daily_active_users_rank": 4,
     "monthly_active_users_rank": 1
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However if I use Facebook Graph API explorer and issue FQL query like the one below about Farmville2's usage, I still see its exact MAU &amp; DAU figures, not the approximate MAU &amp; DAU tier level to which the app belongs to.</p>
  
  <p>i.e:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT metric, value
  FROM insights WHERE object_id='321574327904696' AND metric='application_active_users' AND period=period('month') AND end_time=end_time_date('2013-01-20')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>results in showing a MAU of 41,848,270. If I query about DAU, I will get 8,264,964.</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
    "data": [
      {
        "metric": "application_active_users", 
        "value": 41848270
      }
    ]
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My question is this:</p>
  
  <p>which DAU &amp; MAU figures should I take into consideration? Are the exact figures reported by querying the Insights table still there for just a short period of time as a result of wanting to be backward compatible and are soon to be removed? Should I assume I cannot get exact DAU and MAU numbers any longer?</p>