What frightens me about the facebook apps is that they sit within a controlled company social network. At any moment facebook could just turn on their apps and ask for revenue sharing. Or even block an application if they feel it’s too competitive with their own. I know they push for open development, but they have investors to whom they have to answer.

That being said we even have a facebook app which we use to bolster our user base and gain access to new individuals, but our site doesn’t sit within the confines of facebook.

I’ve added your blog to my blog roll at http://www.wavewash.net

I agree. At Demo,there were several companies based solely on facebook apps. And most were pretty lame. Facebook apps are great but I’d like to hear more about the turnover rate. I’ve added and then almost immediately deleted plenty of facebook apps and kept only the ones that I really want. And I’ve noticed that it’s common behavior on facebook.

Facebook profiles are getting more and more cluttered and I am sure there will be a point where this app culture moves counter-clock.

I think the ones that will really last it out are the apps that really provide a service and enhance the facebook experience. facebook is a communication tool — and apps that tend to forget it or disregard it, might have a hard time staying alive.

My two cents — but I’d like to know, did anyone speak abt the turnover? How many times do ppl remove a particular app after adding it?

Hey Jinal,

I agree with you that turnover rate is really important metric. Facebook’s started to be pretty proactive in providing statistical information about app usership as part of their developer offerings, and user engagement was a continuing topic of discussion during the conference. I think people understand that an installation means nothing unless a user actually uses the app again.

Interesting point about apps that focus on communication being the most likely to succeed.

Mo, your fears about sitting inside the FB ecosystem are certainly echoed by others as well. Still, Facebook does seem dedicated to building this as a platform, and anyone developing an application for Windows or Mac OS might have the same fear. I genuinely think they see the advantage of a completely open platform as being greater than the gains to be had from cherrypicking a few good ideas.