I blinked and missed a piece in
Business 2.0 about the Wild West that is the
Facebook platform these days. In May, the site was opened up for developers to create and distribute "apps" (small applications that play within a user's Facebook homepage. A flood of development ensued and today, Facebook users have installed nearly 350 million instances of some 5,300 apps.
Just as fast as the developers are spitting out new apps, trying to see what will stick, they are also looking for a way to monetize their newfound critical mass. Will popular apps become advertising channels? Sponsorship venues? Only time will tell.
As of this writing, the top 5 apps, according to the Facebook-app-tracking site
Adonomics, are:
- Top Friends (2,437,140 active users)
- Fun Wall (1,843,470 active users)
- Super Wall (1.017,660 active users)
- SuperPoke! (875,495 active users)
- Video (806,753 active users)
Underscoring the volatilty of this emerging marketplace is, in the 24-hour period prior to this post, #5 ranked "Video" gained 22,000 active users, while #2 "FunWall" lost 245,690. Who's having fun now, pal?
Update: more recent coverage at NYTimes:
In Facebook: Investing in a Theory.
Facebook screenshot, uploaded by Paul Jacobson
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