Are Facebook apps worth it?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2069334

by cme • 16 years ago

2 5 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've been toying with the idea of developing a couple of facebook apps. I think they are decent ideas and initial feedbacks been good.

I'm just wondering if they are worth it? How are developers monetizing these apps?

I think at the very least I'll buy a couple of domains, throw up a landing page and collect interest, but would enjoy hearing your feedback.

cme3• 16 years ago

Thanks in advance!

cd342• 16 years ago

It depends on what your app does and how you get traffic. Writing a game? http://cd34.com/blog/boring/social-gaming-design-requirement...

Monetizing becomes - ad network (rockyou, adsense) or selling virtual currency through offerpal/superrewards, etc. There is a section in the developers forums that talks about monetization (http://forum.developers.facebook.net/viewforum.php?id=8) and mentions all of the latest players. Offerpal was super on another app I did - it just didn't get the traction it needed to make more than a handful of bucks.

If you go with a completely viral app that isn't a game, you don't get the return visitors but you might get the mass numbers. If you can get into a vertical niche, you can go to connectcommerce/cj.com or something similar and run targeted ads for affiliates.

I did a quick two page survey app that hit 40k DAU at it's peak and has about 400k total installs that made roughly $800. Not a bad return for 40 minutes of work, pylons/nginx/uwsgi and a small database. Replicating that with different angles never met the same success. Timing probably was just lucky on that app. Once in a while a small uptick on adsense comes in - and someone has stumbled across it and their friends all start taking it again, but, never with the original zeal.

I have an idea for a social game that has a different twist. While I found I could write software, knew the psychology behind it, I found out I'm not a game designer. I wrote all of the code but lost the motivation to finish it.

It works, you can make money at it. Writing a Mobwars/Mafia Wars clone is the quickest way to money. However, designing something viral just requires a lot more traffic to make the same cash. Neither is incredibly difficult.

cme3• 16 years ago

what were you doing to drive traffic to your survey app?

cd342• 16 years ago

nothing. :) It was just luckily timed with a few events, appealed to a particular demographic and took off. I tried a few others, but, between finding topics that had decent affiliate payment options and a few duds, I started writing the game based on that survey and lost interest. As movies in that genre are released frequently, I think it is repeatable.

Are Facebook apps worth it?

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