The Facebook Economy Race for Riches…good or bad?
Be sure to read this CNN article on the The Facebook Economy . It offers great summaries at the end of all the latest applications created by users around the world ever since Facebook opened its floodgates to developers. That being said, the whole article revolves around how to make money off of this unique opportunity while it is free. I feel that this is short-minded thinking.
I realize that one can easily argue that if you develop an application you should be able to leverage its high usage to make money via ads. However, the downside is that we are being inundated with garbage applications from people looking to make a quick buck. Some of these applications die a quick natural death, others are added even though they are garbage and clutter people’s profiles. Facebook will likely soon go Public, and we will all lose out on this unique opportunity to create and reach “long-tail” audiences.
Before this happens, there is a tremendous opportunity for non-profits and the government to come in and make some truly community benefiting applications to help deliver on their programs and services. I have already seen a few such as RFP submission tools, bilingual polling tools, and recruitment tools used by agencies such as the CIA. Hopefully, with the whole slew of start-ups specializing solely in Facebook application development, we will be seeing some truly beneficial and unique uses of this platform before its too late. The race is on…
