Social Network Advertising: What kind of eCPM can my facebook application generate? Facebook Apps: Why they’re focused on fun instead of utility | Andrew Chen (@andrew_chen) There’s recently been some discussion that Facebook apps are silly and pointless, as proven by the categorization of apps on Facebook. The question is, why is this true? Ben Rattray from Change.org recently sent me a great e-mail, and I asked for his permission to blog the essay. In it, he discusses the structural issues around Facebook apps, and why they encourage apps focused on communication rather than utility. [UPDATE: Just to be clear, everything underneath the following line is Ben's work - one of my readers wanted me to clarify] Ben writes: The reason there are few and little use of utility-based applications is not because users don’t want to use them or because app developers don’t want to develop them, or even because Facebook doesn’t want to encourage them (which they clearly do).
As you know, the reason for this is simple math. But it’s very hard (and incredibly inefficient) to market apps outside of the walled garden of Facebook. Extended remarks: 2(a). 2(b). Facebook Analytics and Developer Services | Adonomics.
Free Facebook Dating and Matchmaking with Friends of Friends. Zoosk Hits 40 Million Members, Eyes $20 Million In Revenue This Year. For a long time, dating sites and social networks have been two very different beasts, rarely co-mingling as users maintained two entirely separate online identities. But that’s starting to change. Zoosk, a social dating site, has largely passed under our radar until now, but it’s posting some serious stats: the service sees an average of 12 million unique users a month, and has a member base totaling over 40 million. Based on last month’s performance, the company says it has a $30 million run rate, and expects to close out this year with $18-$20 million in revenue.
Zoosk launched back in 2007, and has been showing some strong growth recently, particularly on social networks. Zoosk co-founders Alex Mehr and Shayan Zadeh say that the site differentiates itself from other dating sites like Match.com by tapping into your social graph. The site itself has a friendly and not-overly-serious atmosphere. iLike Sees Exponential Growth with Facebook App. Why Lightspeed invested in Living Social. Well, I’ve been busy since the beginning of the year! Earlier this week Lightspeed’s investment in ShoeDazzle was announced, and today our investment in Living Social was announced. Both companies reflect our belief in entertainment commerce, or push commerce. The traditional model of ecommerce treated buying things like a chore, crossing things off of a list.
Some of the newer commerce models, the ones that are quickly growing to millions in monthly revenue, help users discover great deals and great items that they were not explicitly looking for. By manufacturing serendipity, they help create demand, rather than just fulfilling demand. Living Social falls into this category. Living Social sends a local deal each day via email (see some examples here) to residents in 18 cities across the US. The leader in this category by far is Groupon. Sadly they are not neck and neck for revenue, at least not yet! When Yipit launched a little over a month and a half ago (!) LivingSocial.