@andrewchen

I got a couple quotes in articles recently on the Facebook apps frenzy:

• Wired: Selling ads on Facebook is a risky but tempting business
• Fortune: New ad outfit targets social-networking sites
• New York Times: Swarm of software developers creating features for Facebook
• Business 2.0: The Facebook economy

I end up being one of the skeptical voices in the articles, but my intention is matter-of-factly describe the hurdles the sites have to overcome on the advertising side in order to succeed. I think it’s possible, yet will take some time. These are lessons I learned from Revenue Science, trying to monetize traffic on several of the top social networks in the world including MySpace.

The specific issues that pop up from the monetization side shouldn’t detract from the fact that adding deeper hooks is something that every network should do, and Facebook has done it with incredible execution. They are a visionary in the category.

However, that still doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for the entrepreneurs to make money

Other blogs on this topic:

• How much is a Facebook user worth, anyway?
• Inside Facebook interview
• 5 things that make your social network monetize like crap
• Inventory glut in social media

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