Facebook Application Strategy - Why Do Some Apps Rule?

You can’t read a blog or magazine these days without finding some mention of Facebook, especially their decision to open up the Facebook platform to 3rd party application developers. Techcrunch recently cited O’Reilly’s research about the adoption and use of the over 5,000 applications that are on the Facebook platform. Guess what, only 84 account for 90% of the usage. Here’s the top 5 and the associated developers (full list at either of the aforementioned sites)

1. Top Friends (Slide)
2. FunWall (Slide)
3. Super Wall (RockYou!)
4. SuperPoke! (Slide)
5. Video (Facebook)

Like blogs, podcasts and social networking before, Facebook apps are the tactic du jour for marketers. So what makes some apps take off? Like every other good strategy it starts with the users and thoughtful planning.

What Do Successful Facebook Apps Have In Common?

Scanning the list of top applications and having watched my own social graph (fancy language for friends) adopt applications, a couple of things stand out. First, many of the top applications are simply porting over popular features of other social networks. Case in point: Top Friends. In addition to being proven, these applications are built on familiar concepts that speed up their adoption.

Second, they’re enhancing already existing, but limited, features on Facebook. Take the SuperWall for example - it’s just a suped up version of the wall. The same can be said of SuperPoke (which I love!).

Third, many of them are simply Facebook versions of already popular tools. iLike, the social music and discovery site, is the notable leader in this category. Just because these are the apps that have taken off so far, it doesn’t mean that’s the only way to be popular. This, of course, begs another question…

Yeah, But Why Do Some Spread Like Wildfire?

Facebook application development is, on some level, another variation of viral marketing. There’s a built-in viral component when the news feed function is enabled and each user’s friends can see who else is using what. For those who don’t know, the news feed is an RSS like tool that notifies a user of recent changes to her friends’ accounts. Even with this, the fundamentals of viral marketing still hold true: people have to want to do what you’re asking them to do.

Facebook applications have an interesting degradation cycle. It starts when the user either finds the application by browsing through the applications section or, more likely, when one of their friends adds it and it shows up in the news feed, then has to click through to the application page, add the app, use it once, going on to repeat usage and help spread it. Each of these steps is a key link to adoption.

1. Attention - The application name has to clearly communicate the function/benefit and catch the user’s attention in the news feed (although having an influential or authoritative contact add the application may also be enough to catch the user’s attention).
2. Interest - The landing page has to clearly merchandise the application. Make the most of the pictures and the text to shorten the gap between page visits and adding the application. This is the only place you have to sell your features and benefits (and quell any privacy or security fears), so make the most of it.
3. Desire - When it comes to Facebook apps, the ones that most likely to be initiated and continued are extensions of the social experiences of site: either you’re sharing something with someone (such iLike or video), do something to them (like poking them, giving gifts), or otherwise cementing the back and forth of friends (e.g. Top Friends).
4. Action - The more strategic developers have structured their Facebook applications so that users are encouraged to spread them. The most common way is for the application itself to include an action you do someone. A more clever approach rewards users with additional functionality the more you spread them. For example, you get more actions in Superpoke the more times you “poke” people with the application. It’s like leveling up in exchange for recruiting your friends.

Facebook Application Best Practices

There are some basic best practices that app developers should consider. First, earn goodwill by asking permission before you do anything on behalf of a user. Don’t spam his or her friends with unwanted emails. Any short term gain will ultimately erode when users, or Facebook, lash out against you.

Just like every other marketing tactic, just because you build it does not mean the users will come. You have to seed the market - with connected people and even your own connected profiles (you are actively building your profile, aren’t you?). Speaking of seeding the market, much has been made of advertising on Facebook and the mixed or lackluster results. The one thing I haven’t seen much of is advertising on Facebook for things inside of Facebook, i.e. your application. It could very well be a smart way to get things moving…

Of course, you have to remember the end game and the fact that you’re playing by Facebook’s rules. Compete’s article on the role of applications in Facebook’s growth had an interesting anecdote about how one entrepreneur is building a brand and site based on his app:

Sage old rock star, Mitchell Kapur headlined Saturday’s presentations [at the Community Next conference]. He advised the young developers of the unavoidable tensions between their applications and the platforms they are developing upon. He counseled:

• Platform owners have the power
• Innovations migrate into the platform
• Some platform owners want to control the whole system
• Platform owners need their applications, but they are destined to absorb the best of them into the platform.

…

One of the hot young performers listening to Mitch was Craig Ulliott. In 2007, he launched Where I’ve Been which has quickly become Facebook’s most popular travel application. Craig is now pursuing the transformation of his Facebook application into a successful online travel company with its own web service (www.whereivebeen.com) and additional applications on MySpace and other social networks, beyond just Facebook.

For much more expert reading on the topic, look up admitted Facebook fanboy and expert Dave McClure’s article on Techcrunch. As a parting thought, the social media platform business is about to heat up with MySpace’s new platform set to launch next week and Google to follow with their own version going across products in the coming week. Obviously, a lot of the lessons learned from Facebook are going to carry over to MySpace and, to a lesser extent, Google. After we clear the wild west of “me too” apps, the winners are going to have to be much more targeted and user centric.

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