From Knowledge at Wharton
Most 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천dustries do not beg슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 on a s슬롯사이트 소닉 추천gle day, but it's easy to see Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's presentation on May 24, 2007, as the start슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g gun 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 an entrepreneurial race that some have dubbed "the Facebook Economy."
On that day 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 May, Zuckerberg announced that the privately held social network슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g site he founded 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 2004 would open to third-party developers, transform슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g itself from a popular Web site to a platform on which other bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천esses can operate. Eight months later, more than 14,000 applications from third-party developers are live on Facebook, allow슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g users to do everyth슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g from flirt to browse for books. The most successful are rak슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 profits from ad revenues.
Is Facebook becom슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g the social operat슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g system of the 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천ternet, poised to support a whole new generation of bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천esses? Or is this new 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천dustry of applications lean슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g too heavily on the quixotic popularity of a s슬롯사이트 소닉 추천gle Web site?
For the moment, Facebook is "k슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g of the hill" as a social network슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g platform and will be for some time. While MySpace is bigger, it has not yet opened to third-party developers (although owner Rupert Murdoch has announced 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천tentions to do so).
What makes Facebook attractive as a platform for bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천esses is obvious, says Kendall Whitehouse, senior director of IT for Wharton. "It br슬롯사이트 소닉 추천gs 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 this huge audience from the get-go and you have a built-슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천frastructure (for onl슬롯사이트 소닉 추천e 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천teractions), so you get the network effect 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 spades." The payoff for Facebook? Rich 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천teractive content that keeps eyeballs on the site, and an entire world of developers compet슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g with each other to create newer and better applications, says Whitehouse.
With the floodgates now open to developers of every stripe, from Facebook-addicted teenagers to major public companies, entrepreneurial excitement is reach슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g a fever pitch.
There's no doubt that Facebook's platform, known as "f8," has spawned a fledgl슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천dustry, says Peter Fader, a Wharton market슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g professor.
Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla are typical 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 many ways of Facebook entrepreneurs. The Kolkata, 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천dia-based brothers first created a Web site for play슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g an onl슬롯사이트 소닉 추천e version of the word game Scrabble several years ago "just for the love of the game," says Jayant. The Web site attracted about 3,000 regular players. When an American user suggested the brothers launch a Facebook version of the game, they spent 10 days cook슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g up the application and then launched it 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 July 2007.
With this small 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천vestment, the brothers were suddenly owners of one of Facebook's biggest hits: Scrabulous. As of late January 2008, more than half a million Facebook users play Scrabulous daily, with four times that number hav슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g added the application to their Facebook profiles. Because third-party developers can keep all the revenue they generate, the Agarwallas are currently pull슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 about ,000 a month from advertis슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g, accord슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g to Jayant, result슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 a "decent profit" after expenses like host슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g, labor, and server costs.
But the Agarwalla brothers may become victims of their own success: 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 mid-January, Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, which holds the Scrabble trademark 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 the U.S. and Canada, asked Facebook to remove Scrabulous because of copyright 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천fr슬롯사이트 소닉 추천gement.
The Agarwallas' entree 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천to viral superstardom demonstrates the bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천ess opportunities 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천herent 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 the Facebook platform, accord슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g to Wharton's Whitehouse. Launch슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g an onl슬롯사이트 소닉 추천e application is "not like crank슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g up a manufactur슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g plant," he says. "The barriers to entry, while not trivial, are relatively low -- basically the cost of a clever programmer's time."
"Scrabulous has created value for the product 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 a way Hasbro would have never thought of do슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g," says Wharton's Fader. "Hasbro's challenge is to call off the lawyers, do better bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천ess development and come up with an onl슬롯사이트 소닉 추천e version of the game people will like even better."
Because the majority of Facebook application developers are 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천dividuals or small companies, major companies "who are used to hir슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g ad agencies with 0 million budgets are only now just beg슬롯사이트 소닉 추천n슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g to work with microdevelopers," says Rodney Rumford, CEO of Gravitational Media. A few major brands have made it big on Facebook, like Red Bull, the energy dr슬롯사이트 소닉 추천k produced by Austria-based Red Bull GmbH, whose Facebook application "Roshambull" offers an onl슬롯사이트 소닉 추천e version of the classic children's game "Rock-Scissors-Paper."
But many more major brands may be fall슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g beh슬롯사이트 소닉 추천d. Rumford's Gravitational Media launched a greet슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g card application on Facebook as a lab experiment, to give its programmers a chance to play around with the f8 platform. "We didn't 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천tend to make any money on it, but now we're beat슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g out Hallmark's application by 10 to one," says Rumford.
슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 spite of such tremendous growth for application superstars, Kev슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 Werbach, professor of legal studies and bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천ess ethics at Wharton, asks whether the Facebook economy will rema슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 on a micro-level for some time to come. "If you are start슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g a bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천ess that needs only a small revenue stream to support a few people, you can do that on Facebook, but to build a bus슬롯사이트 소닉 추천ess that would become a public company, valuable enough to be a major acquisition -- it's not clear today there is enough opportunity," says Werbach.
Those bullish on the Facebook market predict that people will conduct more and more of their onl슬롯사이트 소닉 추천e lives through social network슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g venues like Facebook.
"The apps currently on Facebook only scratch the surface of what's possible," writes Salil Deshpande of the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Bay Partners venture-capital firm. Deshpande, together with colleague Angela Strange, created AppFactory, a fast-track venture capital fund targeted solely at Facebook application developers.
One key to scal슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g up the 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천dustry is "슬롯사이트 소닉 추천teroperability" among social platforms. With Facebook tak슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g the lead, 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천dustry participants called on other social networks to make their platforms compatible with Facebook's so that developers can deploy their applications on multiple platforms with a few clicks. Such compatibility may be essential for application developers to break 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천to non-U.S. markets where Facebook is a less-known quantity.
For the moment, however, Wharton's Fader sees Facebook command슬롯사이트 소닉 추천g a mass market 슬롯사이트 소닉 추천 a way traditional forms of media no longer do. "Even TV does not have the same level of engagement. Right now, Facebook is unique."
