I've been toying with the idea of developing a couple of facebook apps. I think they are decent ideas and initial feedbacks been good.<p>I'm just wondering if they are worth it? How are developers monetizing these apps?<p>I think at the very least I'll buy a couple of domains, throw up a landing page and collect interest, but would enjoy hearing your feedback.
It depends on what your app does and how you get traffic. Writing a game? <a href="http://cd34.com/blog/boring/social-gaming-design-requirements/" rel="nofollow">http://cd34.com/blog/boring/social-gaming-design-requirement...</a><p>Monetizing becomes - ad network (rockyou, adsense) or selling virtual currency through offerpal/superrewards, etc. There is a section in the developers forums that talks about monetization (<a href="http://forum.developers.facebook.net/viewforum.php?id=8" rel="nofollow">http://forum.developers.facebook.net/viewforum.php?id=8</a>) and mentions all of the latest players. Offerpal was super on another app I did - it just didn't get the traction it needed to make more than a handful of bucks.<p>If you go with a completely viral app that isn't a game, you don't get the return visitors but you might get the mass numbers. If you can get into a vertical niche, you can go to connectcommerce/cj.com or something similar and run targeted ads for affiliates.<p>I did a quick two page survey app that hit 40k DAU at it's peak and has about 400k total installs that made roughly $800. Not a bad return for 40 minutes of work, pylons/nginx/uwsgi and a small database. Replicating that with different angles never met the same success. Timing probably was just lucky on that app. Once in a while a small uptick on adsense comes in - and someone has stumbled across it and their friends all start taking it again, but, never with the original zeal.<p>I have an idea for a social game that has a different twist. While I found I could write software, knew the psychology behind it, I found out I'm not a game designer. I wrote all of the code but lost the motivation to finish it.<p>It works, you can make money at it. Writing a Mobwars/Mafia Wars clone is the quickest way to money. However, designing something viral just requires a lot more traffic to make the same cash. Neither is incredibly difficult.