Archives: October 2007

I received an email this morning from BustedTees.com telling me about a new application that they just released called “T-Shirt Money Maker.” I have been extremely skeptical about making money via Facebook applications. That was until I saw yesterday’s data which suggested profiles are the number one source of application installs. These are installs that result from user clicks. The only way to place an ad in a profile at this point is through an application.

I would argue that an ad in the profile is going to be much more effective than Flyer ads. This isn’t backed by any sort of quantitative data though. While this would make for a great research paper, my hypothesis remains that it is in fact possible to sell things via profiles. While it may not be as profitable for the users that decide to add the application to their profile, the owner of the application who can aggregate all the user profiles has a significant promotional opportunity. The real key to any of these applications is going to be provide enough incentive to the users that have the application.

For BustedTees, I think they have provided users with enough incentive. The incentive is that they get to display entertaining images on their profile. Whether or not they sell any t-shirts, users will have entertaining content that is displayed on their profiles. This is the only reason that I think this application will have any chance of being successful. The Visual Bookself application and Flixter’s Movies application are the only applications that I’ve seen successfully leverage affiliate sales through the profile. This is because people want to show off their movies and books to their friends.

Soon enough a large number of people may be showing off their Busted T-Shirts if BustedTees has anything to say about it. I will follow-up with BustedTees in the coming months to see if their application is successful at generating sales. In regards to the application, it is extremely simple. First, you pick the t-shirts that you would like to display on your profile. Second, you enter in your information for how you would like to receive payment. You’re done! Now you can sit back and watch the money roll it. At a minimum you can have some pretty entertaining T-Shirts to show off on your profile. If you like entertaining t-shirts, check out the T-Shirt Money Maker application

T-Shirt Money Maker Home

T-Shirt Money Maker Settings Page

T-Shirt Money Maker Profile Display

Browsing through the Facebook directory this morning I found a pretty entertaining game called “Air Hockey.” Air Hockey is a well made duplicate of the classic Air Hockey game. This appears to be the first live application that integrates with the highly publicized Ace Bucks application (which I broke news about earlier this week). I played this application for about 10 minutes. It is a relatively addictive game but extremely challenging.

One of the players who was writing in the game chat room agreed with me that the game was difficult. Aside from being challeing this game has pretty smooth game play and the user interface is intuitive. The only problem with the game was that I had no idea how to figure out what my score was after making it to the third round of the game. There weren’t any other errors besides that. This game embraces the social graph by providing a chat room and a scoreboard that shows your friends’ scores. I think that seeing how your friends rank on these games is the primary reason for playing them on Facebook over another website. If you want to try out another game or have the opportunity to win more Ace Bucks, go check out the Air Hockey application.

There is a lot of buzz going around about something happening at Facebook today. It started with a Valleywag post and then yesterday Caroline McCarthy posted about further evidence of impending news. Apparently there is a big meeting taking place today as Facebook employees from around the country are flying into town. Another employee that was supposed to attend a Facebook developer’s garage tomorrow had to cancel due to an important meeting.

Recently, I’ve been publishing gossip and while I hate to continue the trend, I couldn’t resist this one. I did a little poking around myself and was not able to get a response from anybody at Facebook … go figure! Facebook has been slow to make any upgrades to the site since the launch of their platform but the blogosphere has been buzzing about upcoming changes including the release of grouping features, the launch of a developer ad network and an advanced analytics program.

As of now, there are only clues that something may be announced this week but nobody has any idea what it is. I’m sure hoping that something is announced soon!

Facebook is under attack again after a lawsuit was filed against Facebook on Monday in a San Jose federal court for sending unsolicited text messages to users. According to Lindsey Abrams, “the messages included explicit language and unsettling remarks, according to Abrams’ civil complaint. She alleges she was charged 10 cents per message and told she couldn’t block the Facebook texting without cutting off notes she wanted to receive.” As stated in the report,

The lawsuit, which her lawyer will seek to have certified as a class action, contends other consumers with recycled phone numbers have been besieged with unsolicited Facebook text messages containing party invitations and unwanted sexual advances.

Apparently a number of children have been receiving these messages as well. All of the messages that I have received have simply included a link that I am asked to click in order to view the content of each message. It is very likely that this is an accurate accusation though. This news comes on the heels of Facebook’s settlement with the New York Attorney General in which Facebook agreed to more stringent privacy policies.

The unwanted text messages are being sent to those that have recycled phone numbers. My guess is that Facebook will be forced to take precautionary steps to prevent this but it is hard to speculate about something that Facebook is not commenting on. Facebook has also been involved in some recent legal proceedings surrounding the competing ConnectU website which claims that Mark Zuckerberg stole their code to create the now popular Facebook website. As Facebook generates more buzz about their astronomical valuations, I would guess that we will continue to see more lawsuits filed against the social platform.

MySpace is in the news today for the launch of a new games section on their site. While the section has yet to release, many are missing the fact that MySpace previously had a games section with close to 100 games. You could play against your friends and even chat with other players. I’m not quite sure when they took down the games section given that I stopped using MySpace long ago but the news here is that MySpace has partnered with Oberon Media, a casual gaming provider.

While MySpace’s games section may not have been a hit the first time around, they are realizing that Games may be key to keeping people on the site after watching the release of the Facebook platform. Many of the most successful applications on Facebook are currently games. From Noggin to Scrabulous, games are attracting a lot of attention on the social platform. So are games a key component to the success of any social network? I think so as long as social features are integrated into the application (aside from Pacman which has now become a favorite of mine).

Yesterday, I listed some of my favorite games on the Facebook platform in my list of the top 25 Facebook applications. The largest category in my top 25 list was in fact games. I’m not quite sure what percentage of my time spent on Facebook is spent playing games but I would guess it is a significant amount. As MySpace sits on the sidelines and watches what is most successful on the Facebook platform, they are rapidly taking small components of the Facebook playbook. It will be interesting to see what happens when the MySpace platform finally launches (whenever that may be).

I have spent the past few months filtering through thousands of applications to find the best ones. I have added and removed thousands of applications but only a few still remain. After going through all the applications and figuring out which applications I will return to, I have narrowed down the list to the following 25 applications. For organizational purposes I have broken the list into application categories.

Games
Noggin – This is honestly the most addictive game that I’ve played on Facebook to date. Noggin is pretty straightforward. There is a 4 by 4 grid of letters and you make as many words as possible by connecting the letters horizontally, vertically and diagonally. You are also playing against other players in real-time which makes this game more exciting. Additionally, there is a chat room that you can chat with other players from. If you are in to word games than go grab the Noggin application.

Scrabulous – If you have been on Facebook since the platformed launch and haven’t seen this game, you haven’t been spending much time on Facebook. Scrabulous has over 380,000 daily visitors and for a good reason. Scrabulous is literally a copycat version of Scrabble that you can play with your friends. The only downside of the game is there is no way to protect against cheating. I played it once and I definitely cheated. If you are a scrabble fan then go check out the Scrabulous application.

Attack! – As I reviewed this morning, Attack is a online multiplayer version of the classic game of Risk. Given that I used to be a huge Risk fan, I had to put this in the list. The application developers did an amazing job of providing users with a great experience. From live chat to the ability to see which of your friends are currently playing, this application has most of the bells and whistles that I look for in a game. If you are also a fan of Risk, go grab the Attack application.

PacMan – This is the classic pacman game but on Facebook. To be honest, this game isn’t special at all except that it is PacMan! The best part is trying to beat your own high score as well as your friends high scores that are also displayed within the game. My high score is 53690. If you want to try and beat it, go grab the PacMan application.

Warbook – The Warbook application is the most active role playing application on Facebook with over 100,000 daily visitors. The goal in Warbook is to expand your midevil empire and building an empire. While there aren’t as many factors as the classic Warcraft game, there over a hundred thousand people that are battling on a daily basis. If you want to build your own empire, go grab the Warbook application.

Mars 2025 – The Mars 2025 application is extremely similar to the Warbook application. Being second to market on Facebook can result in either complete failure or massive success. So far, this application has been relatively successful although their growth rate is nowhere near Warbook’s during its prime. Last week I gave this application a positive review. Since then, the application has been growing steadily. If you enjoy empire building and want a greater opportunity to be the game leader (in comparison to Warbook where the leaders are far ahead of the majority of users), go grab the Mars 2025 application.

Traveler IQ Challenge – Second to Noggin, this is the most addictive game that I’ve played so far. The Traveler IQ Challenge application tests your geographical knowledge and displays how you rank in comparison to your friends and all of Facebook. Back when I was playing this game on a regular basis, I seriously contemplated hanging a world map above my desk. I didn’t and as a result my score is not the top one among my friends. If you want to test your geographical knowledge, go grab the Traveler IQ Challenge application.

Social Good
Causes – When I discuss Facebook applications with other people, the Causes application is easily the most referenced application on Facebook. People love the concept that others may be naturally altruistic. This application caters to that idea. Users can create a cause and list a non-profit or political group that will be the beneficiary of donations. While there hasn’t been a significant amount of money donated through the application a few select causes have raised a moderate amount of money. If you want to make a change on Facebook, this is one of the best ways, so go grab the Causes application.

Razoo Speed Granting – While it hasn’t experienced a similar growth as the causes application, the Razoo Speed Granting application is a great opportunity for great causes to raise money. Each month, Razoo gives away anywhere from $300 to $1000. It’s a great way for anybody to win some money for great causes. If you want are part of an organization that wants to raise money or if you just want to help out another person’s cause, go grab the Razoo Speedgranting application. (Disclaimer: I have done some consulting work for Razoo previously.)

Utility
Video – A few months ago, Facebook officially launched their video application. The application has rapidly grown to become one of the most active applications on Facebook. Among my contacts, I consistently see new videos being posted. This in turn enriches my interaction with the Facebook site. In terms of time spent on Facebook, this application will single handedly increase Facebook’s overall statistics in terms of time spent per user. The only downfall currently is their 100 MB filesize limit but this isn’t too restricting for most users. If you want to upload videos or view your friends’ videos, go grab the Video application.

Flog Blog – Are you a blogger? If you are, this application is a must have. Flog blog imports your RSS feed and displays and appended version of your articles directly on your profile. It’s as simple as that. Given that profiles are the best source for getting traffic to applications, you would have to assume that the same would go for click-thru links to websites. So if you have a blog, you have to grab the Flog Blog application.

Top Groups – One way to create a popular application is to simply improve upon the features that Facebook has built. That’s exactly what the developers of Top Groups have done. Top Groups lets you choose up to 30 of your favorite groups, order them how you like, and save them to a customizable box on your profile. Are you in group overload? Have you joined hundreds of groups resulting in a massive list of them on your profile? Thanks to Top Groups you can narrow down this list to the 30 that are most important to you. If you have a case of group overload, go check out the Top Groups application.

Clever Hippo Search Engine – For those of you that have realized that Facebook’s application directory search is extremely limited, the Clever Hippo team has come up with a solution for your problems. The Clever Hippo Search Engine application indexes all of the components of an application including the developer names, application title, description and the about page. This is really useful if you are trying to make sure that someone else hasn’t already come up with an application idea that you are considering launching. Additionally, if you just want a more effective search utility, go grab the Clever Hippo Search Engine application.

Free Conference Calls – Many people have criticized Facebook application for not being useful. They argue that most of the popular applications are for those looking to get involved in childish behavior. Thanks to Free Conference Calls, even business people can take advantage of Facebook. The application has become increasingly popular. One of the coolest features is the ability to have free party lines. While I’ve never been a fan of party lines, this application is being used to coordinate events for organizations that have a disconnected member base as well as for business calls. If you are ever in need of launching conference calls, go grab the Free Conference Calls application.

Music
Audibie – A while back, Facebook decided to shut down the highly popular Audio application. The application had added over 750,000 users. At the end of August Audibie, a cleaned up version of Audio, launched and has yet to draw much attention, commanding just over 3,000 active users a day. This pales in comparison to the Audio application, probably why it has yet to be shut down. The slower growth of this application shows how launching a highly viral application has grown much more challenging as the platform matures. Regardless, as long as this application remains, it is a great tool for adding music to your profile. If you want to add just about any song to your profile, go grab the Audibie application.

My Music – Want to listen to your iTunes library from anywhere in the world? The My Music application does just that. You can track all of the music you and your friends have listened to as well as listen to any of your songs from anywhere in the world. My Music does a great job of producing a weekly chart. The most interesting thing is that the charts are extremely unique in comparison to billboard or even Last.fm. If you want to listen to you music from anywhere or just see what your friends are listening to, go grab the My Music application.

Yahoo! Music Videos – Soon after the launch of the Facebook platform, Yahoo decided to create an application that transported over their music video website. While the application has yet to become extremely popular, it is well made an has a relatively large library of music videos. While there is little interactivity among users within the application, I enjoyed watching the videos. While it’s an extremely simple application, it does a good job at doing what it sayd it will. If you want to watch music videos on Facebook than go grab the Yahoo Music Videos application.

Fantasy Games
Fantasy Record Label – Earlier this month I reviewed a new application that Amie St launched. The application enables users to pick artists from Amie St that they think are going to do well. Over time you can watch your label grow in popularity or fail miserably. I’ve found that most of the songs in this application tend to rise in popularity but some increase more than others. While I may not be the best on Facebook at sensing talent, the application is still entertaining. If you want to test your skills at running your own music label, go grab the Fantasy Record Label application.

Fantasy Stock Exchange – Are you a stock picking wizard? Probably not, but most people that trade stocks like to think they are. If you think you can compete against the best, this application is for you. The only problem with fantasy games is that you have to return to the application on a regular basis. If you will return to an extremely pleasant surprise or more than likely return to a disaster area. Whatever the circumstance, if you enjoy testing your stock picking skills this is a great environment to test it in. If you want to prove you’re the master stock picker, go grab the Fantasy Stock Exchange application.

Ratings
Visual Bookshelf – Want to keep track of all of the books that you want to read or have read? Visual Bookshelf provides you with an easy and intuitive way for managing your virtual bookshelf. You can also comment on books and view what books your friends are reading as well. Visual Bookshelf has an extremely active user base of passionate readers. If you are into reading then go check out the Visual Bookshelf application.

Movies – Over 700,000 people per day are using the Flixster Movies application on Facebook. This application is probably one of the most robust and dynamic community applications on Facebook enabling users to talk about their experiences with everything related to movies. You can rate movies, comment on movies, view trailers, take quizzes, find movie times and more! If you are a movie connoisseur check out the Movies application.

Visualization
TouchGraph Photos – The TouchGraph Photos application has to be one of the most visually appealing applications. TouchGraph enables you to view how all of your friends are related in an interactive environment. When you click on each of your friends you can view each of their photos and then narrow down those photos to ones that just include you and the friend. I posted a video of this application back in June. If you want an awesome way to visualize all of your friends’ photos on Facebook, go grab the TouchGraph photos application.

Friends Density -The Friends Density application provides you with an insanely simple way to visualize your friends in terms of their geographic location. A heatmap overlays your country (U.S., U.K. or France currently) and displays where your friends are on the map. Rather than browsing through all of your friends’ profiles you can simply load this map and get a quick image that accurately depicts where all of your friends are from. If you want to see your socio-geographical (made up that word) impact, go grab the Friends Density application.

Dating
Hot or Not – If you don’t know what Hot or Not is, chances are good that you don’t spend much time on the web. Hot or Not enables you to click through peoples’ photos and choose whether they are hot or not. You rate each person on a scale of 1 to 10. After each vote you can tell what other people ranked that person. Hot or Not continues to be one of the most popular applications on Facebook with close to 140,000 active daily users. One cool feature about this is the matching component which enables you to click if “Yes” if you are interested in someone. They will then receive a notification updating that you clicked “Yes” to them. While it is extremely basic, my bet is that a number of matches have been made thanks to this application. If you want to judge other peoples’ looks, go grab the Hot or Not application.

Are You Interested? – The Are You Interested application is extremely similar to the Hot or Not application except that it tracks all of your responses and makes them visible to you. The application is extremely simple yet extremely popular. After tracking all of the clicks, the application creators launched another application that tracks the people with the highest scores. It’s not surprising who ranked at the top but if you want to see some pretty faces (and bodies) you can check out the accompanying “Meet New People” application. If you want to see if other people on Facebook are interested in you, check out the Are You Interested application.

Justin Smith just posted an interesting article about Facebook revealing new application statistics to developers. I went and checked out my own application statistics and compared them to the ones that Justin posted. The result? An almost duplicate chart depicting the source for application installs. Contrary to popular belief, the newsfeed came in third as a source for application installs.

Surprisingly, the most popular source for application installs was the “Add” link within profile boxes. The second runner up was the application directory. Given that I launched this specific application months ago, it is surprising that the application directory was still providing so many installs. The newsfeed came in a close third for application installs. This is definitely valuable information for all application developers.

The lesson learned from this data? Spend more time optimizing content within the profile box rather than focusing on news feed optimization. Valuable content within profiles will entice users to add the application to their own profile. Additionally, this information supports the argument that widgets may in fact be more valuable than I previously suggested. While interactive and engaging applications makes up the majority of activity on Facebook, compelling profile widgets have a place on Facebook.

Remeber the classic board game, “Risk?” I used to be a huge fan. Eric Schiermeyer and Mark Pincus have developed a seriously addictive multiplayer version of the game called “Attack!” Similar to online poker, there is a game staging area where you can pick what game you would like to join as well as view which of your friends are currently playing in a game.

The first time I played this game I lost pretty bad. Apparently there are some other people on Facebook that are experts at this game. While I thought I may be one of them, I definitely am not. Apparently the key to this game is to join a game and then invite 20 of your friends. As soon as you send the invites you will receive 20 armies and can rampage through the other territories.

The only thing lacking from this game is the ability to private message people. Once they add that, this game is going to remain as one of the more entertaining games on Facebook. I already lost once and now I want to go play again! If you are a big fan of Risk, go check out the Attack application.

As I covered last week, Facebook has begun to release demographing information via their advance Flyers system. Valleywag appears to be hyping this up to be Facebook’s stealth ad system. Honestly, there is nothing stealth about this. Facebook announced the release of their new advertising system over a month ago. The primary benefit of this new system is that it is based on a cost-per-click (CPC) model rather than cost-per-impression (CPM).

Facebook is indeed taking a bite out of the online advertising market. Their new system enables advertisers to target better than any other advertising system out there. For those that argue that much of the profile data is inaccurate, Facebook can easily filter through those. Will Facebook upgrade their ad network to enable better ad placement?

Currently, Facebook simply places a flyer in the left hand side of the site. This positioning has historically horrendous click-thru rates (somewhere around 0.04%). If Facebook embedded ads within profiles, it may make the system more effective. Conversely, placing ads in more strategic locations may result in a backlash from users (similar to the one experienced when they launched newsfeed).

So is this the much anticipated advertising system that has been rumored for the past few months? Nope. It is one component but Facebook is going to soon enable developers to monetize their applications, something that until now has been offered only by third parties. Will Flyers be the primary monetization model for app developers? Probably. Any other form of advertising would be a direct attack on existing advertising solutions.

While I think the upgrade to the Facebook Flyers is a step toward Facebook’s much anticipated advertising system for developers, I think it is simply that, a step. In addition to advertising solutions, developers are calling for more effective analytics solutions. The bottom line is that there are a number of features left to add before Facebook becomes the spectacular advertising system that many have been dreaming of.

Just one month ago I broke the news about Buddy Media raising $1.5 million from a powerhouse team of investors. Just today, Buddy Media closed a follow-on investment round with Bay Partners, the manager of the AppFactory fund. Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media, told me that they took an additional $200K so that they could work closely with all AppFactory companies to integrate their AceBucks application.

Since raising the initial series of funding, AceBucks has been adding over 11,000 users a day. This growth is crushing all of the competing currencies. Buddy Media is also working on building their relationships with other applications across Facebook to enable Acebucks integration. Acebucks has been working on launching an API in the near future as well as rolling out a number of other new features.

Acebucks has been working on building a virtual store that enables users to buy and sell real good for Acebucks. The new store will be officially released in the coming weeks. While Acebucks is exposed to significant inflationary risk, the powerhouse team of investors and strategic alliances gives Acebucks the leading edge in the world of Facebook currencies.