So I did a video the other day about what makes a successful facebook app. Someone on facebook (not this blog) commented that Facebook applications are for a niche within a niche within a niche. You know what? He is absolutely correct.

He (Sjoerd Verweij) does not think people will find applications useful. Hmmm. He used one (video is actually an application on the facebook platform) to discover content (from me) and used one to comment to me.

He proved my point that facebook is a new type of communication tool for me. He found my video on a facebook application, commented on a facebook application and I responded to him on the same facebook application. I found out that he commented on my video via my facebook News Feed passively. Data that matters to me finds me.

Here is what he said about facebook being a niche on his blog:
Let me cut this down:

* People on the Internet
* People on Facebook
* People that care about Facebook sufficiently to return
* People that are tech-savvy enough to find your application and add it
* People that are looking for what your application does
* People that care so much that might be willing to pay for it
I think the point he is missing is that he is developing for a platform that nobody cares about.

He is right on a few points. Facebook is a niche and it has approx 32 million users that return monthly (active users).

* As for the remaining 3 points; you do not have to be tech savvy to find an application. Points of discovery for adding apps are everywhere (mini-feed, app directory, posted links, invites, notifications, search, friends profiles, news feed, email attachments, etc.). If an application is being used by your friends you will most likely be exposed to it without actually having to LOOK for it. If you can click “Add Application” you are tech savvy enough to add an app on facebook.

* People can actually search the application directory, so if they are looking specifically for an application that fills a specific need, they can find it based upon a keywords search query.

* People do not have to pay for applications to use them. They are free to use (this may change as the value proposition becomes greater for more sophisticated applications). The business & revenue models that are under the hood for these are varied. Some apps are ad sponsored, some are meant to be branding efforts, some are meant to drive traffic back to their main sites off of facebook. Some are meant to pull entire site functionality into facebook.

So facebook is a niche, a niche that happens to allow me to do a large amount of my communication, discovery and use of the internet all in 1 place. That in itself is a great value proposition. Facebook is becoming the ultimate aggregation tool for content in many ways very quickly. It also facilitates easy and meaningful connections (to both people and data) where none existed before.

The other thing about facebook is that is highly addictive and quite efficient. I do not “waste time” on facebook, my life is much to busy. But facebook allows me new and more efficient ways to consume, publish and share content. This is not a fad, this is a basic human need. People are always looking for better and more efficient ways to use the internet. These use cases are indicative that this small niche of 32 million will grow into a much larger niche.

Data wants to be set free and it will almost always find a way to be set free via technology. So, I like being part of the facebook niche, it helps me manage data of many types quite effectively. So is facebook a platform that nobody cares about? I think not.

Technorati Tags: facebook, facebook applications, facebook video, facebook niche, markets

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