The Facebook Fanboy Panel @ Graphing Social Patterns: 3 Keys to Monetizing Facebook

Below is a video clip of the Facebook Fanboy: Pro vs Con panel at the recent Graphing Social Patterns conference on Facebook & social networking platforms. 

The panel consisted of:

• Mike Arrington of TechCrunch (moderator)
• Robert Scoble of PodTech & ScobleShow.com
• Jason Calacanis of Mahalo
• Rodney Rumford of FaceReviews.com
• yours truly Dave McClure, Master of 500 Hats.

without a doubt, this was the most fun, crazy, 90-mph rollercoaster, good time panel session i've EVER had the pleasure to be on.  it was a blast.

Click To Play

in the discussion, one of the key items we cover is how Facebook could improve monetization -- which is currently pretty crappy; ditto for MySpace and most other social networks of scale except perhaps LinkedIn.  this is a super significant issue, since valuation of Facebook could go up dramatically if they ever figured out how to monetize all the sticky usage behavior they're seeing.  otherwise, Kara may be right that even the currently rumored valuation might be tough to justify, and all those apps really might be as useless as she thinks.

imho there are 3 reasons to think Facebook can improve monetization, and they're not so far-fetched.  here's how they could make it better:

1. Implement a Payment System & Do More E-Commerce on (& off) the Platform
2. Buy or Build a (non-people) Search Engine to Capture More Intentional / Transactional Behavior
3. Use the Social Graph to Map the "Network of Cool", & the Feed to Magnify Alpha Dogs & Alpha Dolls

i'll explain more about these ideas later.  The Network of Cool concept is covered in the video clip, and i think it's one unique advantage Facebook may have over other large platforms.

(fyi: as soon as we get the rest of the video content edited & produced, we'll publish it on the Graphing Social Patterns website... hopefully by next week)

Comments

[Pete Mauro]

Great panel Dave. It's great to hear big thinkers with historical context debate FB monetization and other issues. I hope this conversation continues.

I really wanted to make the event but had to come back down to LA early after the Community Next. Keep the videos coming!

[L. Thompson]

Isn't your advice for "monetizing facebook" applicable to any social network? Minus the term "social graph", which is just a map of the users and their actions within the network (something all networks have to some degree) and the term "applications" which most would describe as widgets, what is the differentiator? Hype seems to be the only differentiating factor. If Facebook has some method of distilling the data from network activity that is better than the other SNs, perhaps they can leverage the data more efficiently. However, my bet is that Ning is developing something far more sophisticated. Then again, I don't have a vested interest in any case, meh.