What works on Facebook and what doesn't.
I've been spending a lot of time working with customers to help them shape how they might extend their brand to develop a Facebook application. I've been seeing some recurring themes, so I thought I'd spend a few minutes writing them down so that I can crystallize them.
1. If you're going to do it, do it right. Companies that have thought of their Facebook app as a way to drive traffic back to their site are not doing well. We like to give the case study of Veoh vs Flixster. Both companies were given access to the FB platform prior to its launch. Veoh is a video sharing site competitive with Dovetail, but they have allowed tons of content to be illegally loaded onto their site, so there are lots of movies on there that you can download and watch in high resolution. Pretty sweet. Flixster is also about movies, but you can only discuss them and do other fun things. Veoh is stuck at around 4,000 installs, while Flixster has millions. The difference? With the Veoh app, you have to go back to the Veoh site to use it, while the Flixster experience exists completely within Facebook. You can also go to the Flixster site, but you don't have to.
2. You have to provide value to the user. Facebook is not a promotional platform. The "fluffy" apps like Top Friends are doing well in terms of viral spread, but for companies looking to move their experience inside of Facebook, the important thing is to provide value. A very simple way to do that would be to simply provide a view of relevant data inside of Facebook. Here's a good example. I like to use pbwiki for lots of things - personal organization, specs, etc. It would be really cool if pbwiki made a facebook app which allowed me to click on something in my profile which then allowed me to view and even edit my wiki right in a Facebook canvas page.
3. It doesn't have to be viral! There's no inherent viral nature to my wiki example, except that my friends sometimes ask me about what wiki I use, and they would be able to easily see if I had a pbwiki module installed. Same with blogger, which I am using to write this. It would be easier for me to just compose this post right in Facebook rather than having to go to blogger.com and login. Blogger wouldn't have to move all the functionality into FB, just the compose component. I think I would be more likely to write posts. I know it would be way easier for someone like my Dad to write posts - it's a pain to have to remember how to deal with Blogger. Who wants to even remember the URL? No value there, and no value to Blogger.
4. You can leverage the built-in authentication of Facebook to make your app really easy to use. Because you're authenticated when you login to Facebook, you can carry those login credentials through to your app, and assume that any users who come from Facebook are valid. This is a big deal. With Dovetail, a user has to register in order to be able to comment, subscribe, etc. Registration is a pain, and people are scared about giving out their email address for fear of spam. With Facebook, you an integrate the registration process with your existing database. Since it's so easy to add an app in Facebook, you can get people over that registration hurdle really quickly. There are some apps that make you separately register for their service within the canvas page, or worse, on their web site. That creates huge downward pressure on adoption. Better to get them signed up through Facebook, then ask for their email address at a later, more appropriate time.
I've been spending a lot of time working with customers to help them shape how they might extend their brand to develop a Facebook application. I've been seeing some recurring themes, so I thought I'd spend a few minutes writing them down so that I can crystallize them.
1. If you're going to do it, do it right. Companies that have thought of their Facebook app as a way to drive traffic back to their site are not doing well. We like to give the case study of Veoh vs Flixster. Both companies were given access to the FB platform prior to its launch. Veoh is a video sharing site competitive with Dovetail, but they have allowed tons of content to be illegally loaded onto their site, so there are lots of movies on there that you can download and watch in high resolution. Pretty sweet. Flixster is also about movies, but you can only discuss them and do other fun things. Veoh is stuck at around 4,000 installs, while Flixster has millions. The difference? With the Veoh app, you have to go back to the Veoh site to use it, while the Flixster experience exists completely within Facebook. You can also go to the Flixster site, but you don't have to.
2. You have to provide value to the user. Facebook is not a promotional platform. The "fluffy" apps like Top Friends are doing well in terms of viral spread, but for companies looking to move their experience inside of Facebook, the important thing is to provide value. A very simple way to do that would be to simply provide a view of relevant data inside of Facebook. Here's a good example. I like to use pbwiki for lots of things - personal organization, specs, etc. It would be really cool if pbwiki made a facebook app which allowed me to click on something in my profile which then allowed me to view and even edit my wiki right in a Facebook canvas page.
3. It doesn't have to be viral! There's no inherent viral nature to my wiki example, except that my friends sometimes ask me about what wiki I use, and they would be able to easily see if I had a pbwiki module installed. Same with blogger, which I am using to write this. It would be easier for me to just compose this post right in Facebook rather than having to go to blogger.com and login. Blogger wouldn't have to move all the functionality into FB, just the compose component. I think I would be more likely to write posts. I know it would be way easier for someone like my Dad to write posts - it's a pain to have to remember how to deal with Blogger. Who wants to even remember the URL? No value there, and no value to Blogger.
4. You can leverage the built-in authentication of Facebook to make your app really easy to use. Because you're authenticated when you login to Facebook, you can carry those login credentials through to your app, and assume that any users who come from Facebook are valid. This is a big deal. With Dovetail, a user has to register in order to be able to comment, subscribe, etc. Registration is a pain, and people are scared about giving out their email address for fear of spam. With Facebook, you an integrate the registration process with your existing database. Since it's so easy to add an app in Facebook, you can get people over that registration hurdle really quickly. There are some apps that make you separately register for their service within the canvas page, or worse, on their web site. That creates huge downward pressure on adoption. Better to get them signed up through Facebook, then ask for their email address at a later, more appropriate time.
Labels: facebook
posted by Chris at 9:17 AM
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