Many developers are heading towards Facebook applications with hopes to find a goldmine. Everyone knows money can be made on facebook, but how much are companies able to make?
The amount a company can make is largely based on how their revenue stream is set up. Most applications make money in the following ways:
- Advertising
- Selling services
- Selling virtual goods
According to some blogs, recent aquisitions value ad-based companies at approximately $1.40 per active user. So ad-based companies need a large user base in order to become a developer’s “goldmine”.
One type of revenue stream that is making money is selling virtual goods. Virtual goods, especially in the form of online video games (i.e., Mob Wars) are starting to pan out for developers. A game called (fluff) friends allows you to buy fancier pets and options with real money. In (fluff) friends, they average over $1 per month per average user, with some users spending hundreds, or even thousands on their pets.
Overall, the most popular facebook application pulled in $1.5 million over a 5 month period. Compared to MySpace’s estimated $800 million a year, facebook applications are hardly making any money.
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