Tuesday, June 24, 2008

What Do Most People Use Facebook Applications For -- It May Not Be What You Think

Interesting Wall St. Journal, "Some Facebook Applications Thrive, Others Flop: Popular Programs Are Useful, Entertain and Let Friends Mingle." The headline almost says it all.

But, according to a chart only available in the print edition, the Journal reported that 26% use Facebook applications for enhanced communications. What's surprising is that Facebook is supposed to enhance communications, so I would've thought the number would be higher.

Twelve percent use Facebook apps for comparing themselves with others.

The other reasons include: playing social games (11%), profile enhancement (10%), categorizing friends (10%), sending gifts (7%), media sharing (5%), self-expression (5%) playing with a digital pet (3%) and playing games (3%).

Ok, I don't understand why you'd want to play with a digital pet. You can get an offline digital pet so you don't need to sit at your computer to use it. In fact, my middle son has one, it's very annoying, and I'm willing to make it available for the right price, but the advantage of his digitial pet is, again, you don't need to go online to use it.

But we've got a problem, I think, with the people who play games but not playing social games. What are they doing -- playing anti-social games? That would explain why it's such a small group. These people need to get some friends. But can someone let me know the difference between playing games and social games?

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