MySpace Apps: Not So Democratic After All As Success Goes on Sale
Remember that warm, fuzzy feeling you got inside when MySpace announced their developer platform and I wrote that it would “level the playing field” for application builders? Maybe not, but in any event, whatever hopes there were that MySpace’s platform wouldn’t be dominated by the same companies that dominate on the other social networks has gone out the window today.
Nick O’Neill of Social Times was able to get his hands on a presentation that MySpace has been pitching to application developers, selling “MySpace App Sponsorships” for $50-100k per week. What does sponsorship get you? “Featured Application” placement on top of the MySpace app gallery. And what applications are featured to start things out? Four apps from the $50+ million in funding, widget behemoth Slide, Inc, including Top Friends and Superpoke, which are currently two of the most popular applications on Facebook.
While this is good for MySpace (more money), good for the big widget companies (more users), and probably not that big of a deal to users (they can still of course search for other applications if they want), it does seem to be a big departure from the original premise of why the MySpace platform was different and better – at least in developer’s eyes.
Applications like Top Friends and Super Poke have huge brand recognition, and the fact that those apps can now be front and center is going to make it nearly impossible for an upstart with little cash to gain big-time popularity. It also means that the big developers can piggy back on the little guys for innovation – copying promising ideas and then writing a check to MySpace to steal all of the exposure. For MySpace’s part, they say that some Featured Applications will be editorially chosen.
While Facebook did invite certain application developers into their initial launch, which gave those companies a big advantage over others, sponsored apps and pay-for-placement is something they have not moved into, so far. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is in the developer community to this move, and what, if anything, Facebook does to counter.
© Adam Ostrow for Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog, 2008. |
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