What About the Open Web?

Facebook: FarmVille is bigger than Twitter, beyond insane when I think about it.

To prove the popularity of these extra-curricular sections of Facebook, Johnson explained: “Applications make up a huge part of Facebook. There are over 90,000 applications on Facebook. “69 million active users are using FarmVille alone, that’s more users than Twitter.” Interestingly, Facebook noted that its demographic is getting older, with the 35+ category growing the fastest and 53 per cent of all those who log on in a month come back on a daily basis.

What does that say for Twitter (and the open web) when a single application inside of a walled garden has more users? Are end users happier in the garden, is it only due to the social and community already built in Facebook, or something else?

Oh and no I don’t use Farmville.