Facebook initiative helps define digital future
By Erina Lin, Monday 8 October 2007 at 22:27 :: World Digital Media Trends :: #668 :: rss
Facebook’s independent developer’s forum, a pioneering call for innovation transformed into a capitalistic free-for-all, will have great universal impact, according to Diane Mermigas, editor-at-large of MediaPost.
Very few companies are willing to lower its walls and make an at-large appeal for future growth ideas. Facebook’s founding chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, 23, who keeps a tight rein on his private little enterprise, has not strayed from his launching vision three years ago, and totally understands that individual talent and intelligence are a company's most valuable assets.
Since opening its platform last spring, Facebook has hosted and integrated new features and functions from over 4,000 registered active developers. It is estimated 120,000 people have accessed the developers' online application.
“While the company and the more successful developers are the immediate beneficiaries, all companies and consumers are winners. It is the epitome of the amorphous digital interactive marketplace, with the Internet at its core,” said Diane Mermigas.
But in some ways, the initiative is almost academic. Developers and others share their ideas and information on dedicated blogs called Developer Garages. While competing to earn more favor from Facebook users, a unique level of camaraderie and shared intelligence arises. “It suggests what it must have been like for the young founders of Yahoo, Google and Microsoft when they were unknowns brainstorming in their home garages and basements.”
Thus, any costs along with the developers' showcase is minimal for Facebook, which may be the most cost-efficient research and development initiative in the history of American business. So far, the winning applications offer more service and functionality than fun, and deep interaction with other Facebook friends, although sustained revenues and the prospect of profits are uncertain.
“Many of the participating entrepreneurs already are generating hundreds of thousands in advertising-related revenues. Venture capitalists have created funds to support and even to buy some of the new applications that mesh with some of their other online portfolio investments,” Mermigas stated in the article.
The initiative has progressed quickly from developers, who were invited to build new businesses on the site’s backbone and receive grants in return for the new tools, services and enhancements for the site. It is rendering some fascinating developments.
Overall, Adanomics had tracked over 350 million installations across 5,268 applications on the site. The applications had been used over 25.6 million times in the last 24 hours, making up a combined total valuation of $292 million.
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