DISQUS

Excellent post Jordan. At Buddy Media we believe the branded application, indeed a form of web content, will be the new ad unit. While a fan page is a great and free way for brands to establish a presence on Facebook, apps can actually augment the page and provide engaging entertainment that consumers expect in this social environment--and ultimately drive social brand loyalty. In fact, the data we’ve seen from our BuddyBrain analytics tool, which tracks our branded app-vertisements, shows that users spent an average of 2 minutes, 35 seconds interacting with a branded application. This engagement is 75x's greater than the time consumers spend interacting with traditional banner ads and 5x's greater than the time consumers spend interacting with TV ads.

Michael Lazerow, CEO Buddy Media

There are two issues here that you have nailed on the head, Nick. (1) User privacy. (2) Facebook data restrictions. Both of these are huge issues for Facebook and will only become more important as the stakes get higher.

On the first issue, privacy, Facebook users need to know that their most personal information is safe -- not only pictures but messages, contact information and, soon, credit card information with the launch of Facebook Wallet (actually, they already have credit card info through the gift app and ad platform).

As per the second, Facebook's business depends on its ownership of the data it has collected. All of us in the business knows that data improves ad efficiency. So the more data I have, the better I can target. This is ultimately the driver of Facebook's business. So any company caught "stealing" Facebook data (or at least using it beyond the scope of the developers agreement without a direct agreement with Facebook) will be and should be shut down.

Having said that, I have no idea if Slide was taking data. I know the guys at Slide. They are aggressive but fair, it seems. I can't speak intelligently about their systems. I do know others who are using data beyond the scope of Facebook's rules.

Absolutely. That's why Kass and I live in the city. We have a 20 block rule. Work, home and kids' school are all within 20 blocks right now so we can work hard, be there for the kids and be there for each other. Happy holidays.

Fred, this is an awesome post. Hits a little too close to home for me -- working like a dog, have a wife (who I happen to work with) and three young kids.