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It's hard to argue with the logic behind Facebook's decision to open up its social network to outside applications. It means its users will spend more time on the Facebook site than other places on the web. The kid is smart. There's room enough for one company to organize the world's information and another to organize peoples' lives.
The beauty of this move is that Facebook is allowing other companies to make money in its universe, thus creating a stronger ecosystem for itself. The danger is that it turns off users. At a conference earlier this week, a panel of high school and college students said they prefer Facebook's clean design to that of MySpace, which they described as ugly and cluttered. The college students had effectively quit MySpace for Facebook. It sounded as if the high schoolers were headed that way too.
The Facebook applications went live on the site last night. I've added to my profile page a Forbes stock tracker, a RoShamBo game and a Bandtracker that alerts me when bands come into town. The applications really are well integrated into the design of the site. What's important is that Facebook --backed by Accel, Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital--avoid becoming like MySpace. It's off to a good start but it will be a constant battle for the comapny to ensure that the outside applications don't threaten the attractiveness of its pages.
For more on Facebook's platform launch, see:
TechMeme conversation
Fred Stutzman
Tags: facebook, accel, myspace, vc, venture+capital
Darn you mean I can't make my Facebook page pink with swirls and pictures of pandas and soft toys all over it?
Don't teens like their bedroom messy and then get irked when an adult tells them it's ok to be messy? Ditto MySpace. It was cool and edgy a couple of years ago, to look like a dog's breakfast, but not now. That doesn't mean the end of MySpace, just that young people are notoriously fickle, whether its cafes or online communities, and those who are left, by definition, are more loyal.
Teenagers try things and then discard them to try a hipper groovier thang. Isn't that what teens are MEANT to do? Attempting to capture the teen market ... well, that way lies madness.