Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

alan p — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:51:00 -0000

Well, I killed it as soon as I heard this - its a control thing, I blogged it here.

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Markus — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:15:31 -0000

Its higher turn over and that works really really well for affiliate marketing.

For instance you put up a few links to dating sites and anyone that signups up you get $5.00 for. It adds up fast.

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Mathew — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 12:46:36 -0000

Is that true, Markus? I wasn't aware that there were widgets that were that profitable. How do they make that much?

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Aidan Henry — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:44:56 -0000

Hey Matt,

Some good points. My thought is something along the lines of yours...

Though "Where I've Been" may have 2.3 million users, how many of them are actually active? There are so many apps that get installed and forgot about. Some people just install a given app because their friends have done so. Subsequently, they never get used. I would wager that a large percentage of FB apps fall into this category. Therefore, user numbers can be very deceiving. Perhaps 10% of all "Where I've Been" users are active. All of a sudden, it looks more like 230,000.

Just my two bits...

Cheers,
Aidan :)

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

engtech @ IDT — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:48:58 -0000

Why do I go into work in the morning?

I really need to start thinking about the opportunity costs of holding down a day job.

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Markus — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:24:42 -0000

There are several apps on facebook making between 1,000 and $10,000/day. If anything this app got sold at a steep discount.

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Stuart MacDonald — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:02:43 -0000

Funny, 'thewie :)

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Mathew — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:43:54 -0000

Good points, Stuart. Have you ever thought of getting into the online travel business? :-)

Re: Can you say "Facebook bubble"?

Stuart MacDonald — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:27:00 -0000

Thanks for pointing this out, Mathew.

Just goes to show how important controlling that initial source of reach at a low cost (maximizing efficiency) is for a travel site (remember: TripAdvisor *is* Expedia. It's the Same company - as is Hotels.com, Hotwire and Classic Custom Vacations). This also mirrors the purchase of TripAdvisor by Expedia several years ago - for just about the same reason I'd imagine (buy it now to avoid having to pay to use it as an increasingly expensive advertising/reach source down the road). And - not to downplay the number in absolute terms; I'm sure the developer is tickled and should be - but $3m is peanuts compared to the global ad budgets of the brands above.

- Stuart