The Facebook Platform’s Magic Combo

A big thanks to Fred for his tip about Marc Andreessen’s new blog. Marc’s analysis of the new Facebook Platform is particularly stunning. What totally floored me is the success of Ilike.com on this new Facebook app platform (over 3 million new users in less than three weeks). To say that’s unprecedented seems almost too tame. The implications for all web app developers are truly staggering.

I’ve been trying to nail down exactly why the Facebook platform works so well and I don’t think it’s just that your friends are automatically notified when you start using a new app. I think it’s that feature combined with the fact that people can one-click their way to new applications. No outside site, no new sign up processes, etc. Signing up for a new app still feels like you’re interacting with Facebook, a site you already trust. The “convince a new user to sign up” hurdle is now much, much lower. The Facebook platform makes it so easy for people to sample new apps that it’s almost like, “why not try this app?”

The Facebook platform has a magic combination of no-hassle sign up, trusted environment, and easy notification of friends. If the success of Ilike is any indication, this magic combo can make good apps spread at an increasingly exponential rate that just hasn’t been seen on the internet until now. And for now, only Facebook has this magic combination of elements. Facebook is saying to web app developers - “we will give you instant success for free and all you have to do is build something our users like.” Absolutely amazing!