Facebook Sets Trend for Distributed Networks I've written already about Current and Future eCommerce Challenges leveraging social network effects, Web Widgets as a Distribution Channel and of course Facebook's Open Platform as a Serious Trend for Future Marketing.

When Facebook announced at their F8 event a new strategy for further expansion focusing on distribution deals, Facebook as an Open Platform, they set a starting point to letting users build the site from the ground up. Amazing facts from the Facebook Developer Meetup in New York last week via ZDNet:

'Dave Morin, Facebook's director of platform, told the Developer Meetup audience via video conference that more than 40,000 developers have requested to be part of the project, around 1,500 applications have been produced so far, and some of the most popular went from zero to 850,000 users in three days. "This is unprecedented in the history of the Internet," Morin said to the developers.'

"If you think about just how we went about building the site," Zuckerberg said, "the traditional approach would have been to assemble the information and build the directory ourselves"..."Decentralised systems just tend to be more efficient."

Attracting more than 1000 developers a day and one month later it almost seams to be done - with an open platform it's no longer necessary to build all software in house - it even leverages the Long Tail sporting smaller, but very specialized applications far beyond the mainstream offering them an opportunity to capitalize on Facebook's large and loyal user base. I've never seen enhancing a platform in that short time!

• New Strategy: Facebook as an Open Platform
• Facebook's Open Platform a Serious Trend for Future Marketing
• Web Widgets as a Distribution Channel for Advertising

Of course there is also the risky side gambling with its image of being the anti MySpace. Letting things go in an 'unprotected' way and see what's coming out in the end might lead to spam & co and be overwhelming for some users, they might become tired of new apps, but seen overall this kind of strategy applying a strict policy in case has shown that 'no major problems had surfaced yet' according to Zuckerberg. No risk no win!

It reminds me to the success of YouTube, which came up by just letting users do it and finding out what they really want. YouTube holds 45% of the free online video market now - they are currently developing a software to detect and protect copyrighted material and offer online publishing tools and copyright free outlets to remix one's videos and to address a stricter policy.

• Google Developer Day: Going Offline with Google Gears

Labels: bizdev, facebook, networking

  ¶ 'Facebook Sets Trend for Distributed Networks' posted by eA : 2:40 PM