How To Split An Atom

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Lets take some time to learn a little something about Social Networks. For today’s case study, I have available to me Compete usage statistics for one of the largest social spaces, Facebook. Lets see what we can find out.

About 22,000,000 people used Facebook in August according to Compete’s data.

If we make the supposition that each person who used the service tried each of Facebook’s features at least once during that month — the graph tells us that a typical Facebook user –

Lots Of Useless Numbers

• Visits 12 Profile Pages
• Looks at 6 Picture Pages
• .5 Group Pages
• Makes 1.2 searches
• And interacts with the entire stable of applications a total of 4 times.

As for time, almost 9 minutes of their total time is spent browsing images, groups and pictures while another 4.5 minutes is spent tinkering with applications.

A Few More Numbers, Follow Me

Of the 5000 or so Facebook applications,

About 87% of the usage goes to the top 84. The brunt of this use is in the hands of the top ten or so. If you recalculate the application scores you will see that outside of this “fat head” your average Facebook user will look at .5 applications for about 30 seconds.

Your Point?

Facebook, like most social networks, is used primarily to keep track of people. Applications seem to hold about as much user attention as the typical television commercial. Worse yet, Facebook’s click thru rates already hover around .04%.

Now imagine trying to monetize a television commercial that only .04% ever engaged in. The point, dear readers, is that if you are planning to go scavenging for gold in the Facebook application market there are a few things that you really need to keep in mind.

Web 2.0 Roundup

The Fat Head Rules. If your application is not a hit that draws millions of impressions per month, then you would probably be better off throwing up a funny flash video and wrapping it in Adsense.

Do What Works. Facebook users love stalking their friends and looking at pictures. Make an application that makes one of these tasks easier. Sometimes the best way to think outside of the box is to look at what is inside.

Throw Out Classic Advertising. Banner ad click thru is so low that if you plan on making a real business around a Facebook app, it might be prudent to look at different kinds of monetization schemes.

Do You Really Need A… Think about it. Does the world really need another way to creatively “poke” your neighbor? Probably not. Facebook is a very bad platform to monetize bad ideas.

Of course, if you happen to put together the next revolution in social “something or another,” you could end up on the leaderboard with Slide and RockYou. In that case, your only real problem will be overcoming the click thru hump. If your plan is to reach a large number of people, chances are good that there are much easier ways to do so using more traditional tools that have been available for years. This goes double for people planning to prospect in the MySpace river.

When deciding on your next project, use a little prudence. Just because pebbles are shiny, doesn’t make them gold.

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