What Will Mark Zuckerberg Announce Today?

Vasanth Sridharan | July 23, 2008 11:49 AM

markzuckerberg4.jpgMark Zuckerberg takes the stage at Facebook's f8 conference in San Francisco in about five hours, which means the Web is full of speculation about what he might announce. Here's a handy scorecard:

  • Preferred Apps: This story broke yesterday, when Kara Swisher reported that Facebook was going to tap some apps as “preferred” today (we've confirmed it independently). But there were few other details. Mike Arrington says that the system will actually be three-tiered: preferred, normal and spammy, and that each tier will have different rules for invites, notifications and news feed entries.
  • Facebook Connect: Two months ago, Facebook announced Facebook Connect, which allows users to bring their Facebook data to outside Web sites. So expect to see a formal launch of the product today.
  • fbFund Winners: Last year the Founders Fund and Accel Partners created a $10 million fund for Facebook applications. The first recipients of the $25K to $250K awards will probably be announced today.
  • Payment System: This is probably the least likely. Facebook has been toying with the idea of launching a PayPal-like system for applications, but we hear Zuckerberg isn’t sold on the idea. The blog Inside Facebook reports that Facebook is in fact building a system, but it won’t be ready for preview today. Mike Arrington disagrees.

We think the tiered apps, Facebook Connect and fbFund winners sound fine, but we're most interested in the payment system, because it has real potential to help solve Facebook's revenue problem. And if Facebook doesn't introduce one soon, expect to see someone else beat them to it. Slide founder Max Levchin tells us that if Facebook doesn't build a payment system he can use for apps like SuperPoke, he's just going to have to do it himself. And given that he helped build PayPal way back in 1998, we believe him.

See Also:
Report: Facebook Will Tap Some Apps As 'Preferred'
VC Funding Drying Up For Facebook Apps? Don't Blame Facebook
Report: Facebook Isn't Launching Payment System Next Week 

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9 Comments

Josh Catone (URL) said:
I'm not sure which is more sad, that Levchin apparently thinks there are people out there willing to pay for an app like SuperPoke, or that he's probably right...
HmmConvenient said:
Maybe he will announce his resignation so they can bring in true vision and leadership! All of his friends have already been pushed out of the executive ranks... it's just a matter of time (crosses fingers).
Nick O'Neill (URL) said:
Mark Zuckerberg will not be announcing a payment system unfortunately :(
pasan said:
Who's going to pay for apps on Facebook? Are you guys actual users of Facebook? The vast majority of the apps are terrible and/or annoying. Very few are of real quality or value and none are worth paying for.
You likely won't be asked to pay for apps per se. Like casual games, you'll be able to use the apps for free, but can spend money to make them better...somehow.
HmmConvenient said:
I'd spend money to make some of the apps go away... specifically superwall, causes, green patch, iThink, superpoke, etc.

It's crazy that Facebook, by not pursuing the Apple model of a "walled garden" has turned off nearly their entire community from ever finding value in applications. How will they change the anti-app behavior pattern that they created?
David Saintloth (URL) said:
Am I the only one that finds it borderline offensive that the managed **third party scripts** provided by Facebook are actually called "apps" ??? As a Software Architect who has designed real apps it makes me chuckle every time they call things like "superpoke" or the "wall" an app.
V (URL) said:
I'll admit, I had to go to facebook and toy with some of the newer apps and "new facebook" (which i hate, but that's a different post for another day) to see what all the bruhaha was about. I'm just really upset now that within these "apps" pages there are sooo many other ads with buttons that look like the "continue" and "submit" and "poke" buttons, but they all lead you to third party ad sites that pop up and ask "are you sure you want to close me?" two or three times. Not only are they harder to avoid, but quite the burden to close. I'm very close to giving up on the site all together, or at least going back to a bare bones no apps page only. Looks like they need to figure out ad revenue for two types of users now.
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