Facebook's Contrasting Platform and Connect Launches

When Facebook launched their platform in 2007 I remember the drama as Facebook developers raced to snap up servers. Developers could barely handle the onslaught of new users, which for iLike, were coming in at over 2,800 users per hour. It was a gold rush and hundreds if not thousands of developers found instant riches. Many of those top developers still are among the top developers today. When Facebook launched Connect over one month ago the response was much more quiet. Many developers sat on the sidelines while they analyzed the effects of the new service. While sites like Gawker (this site included) were touting significant increases in user engagement, no company experienced the dramatic growth in their user base as initially experienced by applications launched on the first version of the platform. Facebook's Accidental Success When Facebook launched their platform in May of 2007, they had no idea how successful it would be (this is not to understate the genius of the concept but nobody knew how big it would be). It turned out to be a phenomenon which attracted hundreds of thousands of developers. Much of the initial success can be attributed to Facebook's loose invite policies at the time and their non-restrictive application policies. Many of the top applications experienced massive success never experienced on any platform prior to this one. Venture capitalists jumped at the opportunity to fund new companies that had successful applications even as many searched for the most effective monetization route. The money didn't matter at first because the opportunity at hand was clearly too good to pass up. I would suggest that the popularity of the platform in the media peaked toward the end of 2007 as one conference after the other popped up to cover the exploding industry around Facebook applications. Nobody had yet to figure out an effective business model but that really didn't matter because we were all flying on the coattails of Facebook's success which has continued to surge through today. The buzz quieted down as the platform matured over 2008 and the highly controversial site redesign was launched. Some claimed that the platform was dead, but nobody knew what to expect of Facebook Connect. Connect Launches In A Restrictive Environment When you launch support for Facebook Connect, don't expect the masses to flock to your site. Instead, the service tends to increase the level of engagement from existing users. While this effect is an incredible one, don't expect to hear of dramatic increases in traffic to websites resulting from new implementations of Facebook Connect. This was the exact reason that developers flocked to the Facebook platform in the first place though. While increased engagement is enough of an incentive for many developer to implement Connect, many will find the hurdle to installing Connect greater than the incentive for completing integration. While Connect has been spreading, there simply isn't the same type of widespread support that we witnessed when the Facebook platform first launched. Unclear Terms Makes Business Risky Another disincentive for new websites to implement Facebook Connect is the lack of clarity in Facebook's terms of service for new implementations of Connect. One way to find out if what you are doing is legitimate under Facebook's terms of service is to ask about it in the developer forum. Developers regularly ask about terms of service issues and they typically get a quick response from Facebook. As I've said before though, Facebook's fourth party widget policy isn't exactly clear as they appear to make exceptions on a case by case basis. Developers are still awaiting clarification but if you are looking to release a widget that is completely dependent on Facebook Connect for user verification, you may want to proceed with caution. Facebook rarely shuts down applications for terms violations but last night they shut down Meebo for their implementation of Facebook chat. While the service didn't initially implement Facebook Connect, the new version will. The exciting part about this is that chat could soon come to the Facebook API. Conclusion While Facebook Connect presents a great opportunity for external websites, the incentives are nowhere near as powerful as those provided when the Facebook platform first launched. While the initial incentives were partially accidental, there's no doubt that the virality of the Facebook platform when it first launched in 2007 was the most significant driver of new development on the site. Facebook may want to consider introducing similar incentives even if only on a temporary basis for the sole purpose of driving rapid adoption. Are you implementing Facebook Connect or have you already? What incentives helped you to make your decision to do so?

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Facebook's Contrasting Platform and Connect Launches

Nick O'Neill

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Nick O'Neill