Facebook Connect: The Next Great App War

by Ian Schafer on January 28, 2009

Well, it’s more like a battleground, but that’s all semantics.


Be sure to check out my latest contribution to AdAge’s DigitalNext, about how the next great war for Facebook app supremacy will not be fought over branded apps, but rather, over behind-the-scenes ones. Here’s a brief excerpt:

We’ve witnessed zombies, vampires, sheep, parking spaces, kidnapping, pushpins and hundreds and hundreds of other silly Facebook apps take our time and waste it like nothing in recent history.
But ever since Facebook’s redesign, those apps have been relegated to other sections, and their popularity has waned. It’s become tougher for developers to launch new apps successfully, and even tougher than that for brands to do the same.
But don’t be so quick to write Facebook apps off just yet. There is a new breed of app that may very well be more powerful than several poking and parking apps combined — and draw even more attention to Facebook’s split personality as both a media property and a platform.
Facebook Connect has actually made Facebook apps more important than ever. But these apps are a different breed. They are meant to facilitate connections, not waste your time. It’s what they help you do, not what they do themselves, and they represent the first entrants into the next great Facebook app war.


Check out the rest here.

About the author

Ian Schafer Ian Schafer, CEO and Founder of Deep Focus (a part of Engine USA), is one of advertising’s most influential voices in interactive marketing and social media. Prior to founding Deep Focus in 2002, Ian was Vice President of the New Media division of Miramax Films. Deep Focus is an award-winning engagement, social media and innovation agency boasting a client roster that includes brands such as AMC, Microsoft, Sony, Diageo, WellPoint, MoMA, and Nintendo. Deep Focus is a part of Engine USA. Under Ian’s guidance, Deep Focus has been lauded for its expertise and excellence at using digital media, technology, creative, and communications strategies to create engaging, value-driven experiences that get people talking. The Emmy®-nominated firm has been responsible for many memorable, award-winning efforts over the years including 2009’s MadMenYourself.com, and has been the recipient of numerous distinctions, including several Webby Awards and a Cannes Gold Lion. Named a ‘Media Maven’ by Advertising Age and one of Adweek’s “Young Ones”, Ian has been featured in Wired, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Adweek, Advertising Age, USA Today, New York Magazine, Variety, CNN, Fortune and The Hollywood Reporter. Ian also sits on the executive board of the Social Media Advertising Consortium.

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