Facebook Cookbook - Jay Goldman [14]
Since Polls are really cheap to run, you should consider building out some part of your idea and then creating a series of reliable and valid questions that test your plans. Don’t necessarily abandon them if the results don’t jibe with your expectations, but keep an open mind about the possibilities that come out of the surveys.
The Winning Formula for Facebook
—Jayant Agarwalla (see his bio in Contributors)
Problem
What’s the winning formula for creating a successful Facebook application?
Solution
Never build an application that you think will be successful. Always build an application that you know will be successful. Think carefully. Is your app going to have a seasonal appeal? Is it something that will not lose its charm after being used 100 times by a user? Are there any existing apps that are similar? If so, have you looked at their discussion boards and written down all the flaws? Getting a user to try a new app is difficult, but getting a user to switch from one app to another is nearly impossible. Try to build an application only when you see the need for it.
Discussion
Ever since Facebook launched its platform in May 2007, there has been a frenzy of activity amongst developers across the world. While there were only a handful of applications in the first couple of months, Facebook now has nearly 30,000 of them. Facebook applications have sublimely demonstrated the immense potential of a social network, in terms of entertainment as well as a solid revenue source.
Flipping the coin, however, shows us the darker side. In October 2007, a report prepared by a research team headed by Tim O’Reilly had revealed shocking results: 87% of application usage went to just 84 applications (out of around 5,000 applications at that time). And only 45 applications had more than 100,000 daily active users. Seven months hence, Facebook is healthier by more than 20 million users and 21,000 applications. But amazingly, only 50 applications now have more than 100,000 users! I think it’s safe to say that more than 80% of application usage goes to not more than 120 applications today.
Why? It’s simply because the developers are not planning for the long term. There are hundreds of applications out there that took perhaps thousands of dollars to build but have barely a few thousand active users. Many developers lose hope if their first application is not successful. We have learned a lot in the time since we created Scrabulous. Check out the following tips.
Try to build an application that is social in nature
Your application must be able to exploit the highly social nature of Facebook. If you build a top-notch Spades (card game) application that does not show top scores or best ratings of peers, it will disappear without a trace. There are tons of casual gaming sites, and it’s nearly impossible to get someone to use a single-player application on Facebook. Keep in mind that the News Feed and Notifications are awesome tools to reach hundreds of thousands of users quickly. Use them to their full potential. This will also lower your costs on marketing and advertising.
Clean or vibrant look
Decide carefully whether your application will have more appeal as a highly colorful and bubbly app or as a more sober application. The “Who Has the Biggest Brain?” social game by Playfish is an excellent example of a flourishing application that uses a lot of graphics. No wonder it has made it to the top 20 so fast. With Scrabulous, we have done away with sounds and animations, but users are very happy with the way things are. The games load very quickly and there is no disturbance in game play.
Seasonal or long-term prospects
Working