Is Facebook For Games?

When the Facebook platform first launched, many people in the blogosphere claimed that Facebook would soon emerge as the social operating system. While that still may occur, some even suggested that Facebook would eventually have highly useful applications that would contribute to productivity. Whether it be enterprise applications or less robust applications such as Zoho, a number of bloggers expressed the future expansion of Facebook into the workplace.

While Facebook has indeed entered the workplace, it’s not for the benefit of employers necessarily. If you take a look at the Zoho Office application on Facebook, there were only 39 active daily users yesterday. A far cry from the close to 60,000 users playing the Attack! application. So what do Facebook users want to do when they are logged into the site? They either want to check out what their friends are doing or socialize.

If you take a look at the most popular applications on Facebook currently, all of them appear to be for entertainment purposes. If you speak with the majority of Facebook application development shops, the most successful applications that they are building are ones that are meant to entertain users. There are also a few useful applications but the majority of those applications revolve around socializing nonetheless. Do you think Facebook will eventually become the web operating system or will it remain as a site that is for socializing and games?

 



Recommended Articles


Inside Social Apps 2012 is Less Than Two Weeks Away

Inside Social Apps, held on February 8-9 in San Francisco, is less than two weeks away. This is the third conference on the future of monetization on social and mobile platforms. Leaders from the industry will share their views on today's most formidable challenges affecting social and mobile apps and games in 2012. Inside Social Apps conferences sell out in advance, so take advantage of early registration pricing. Early bird rates end on February 1, so register today.

8 Comments »

  1. I like WarBook best..

    Comment by Yatti — November 11, 2007 @ 8:37 am

  2. Actually, all social web sites are games. The book "The Web: Hidden Games" (http://www.lulu.com/content/1269306) tries to look at them from game perspective. Certainly, it's only one perspective among many.

    Comment by C. Weng — November 11, 2007 @ 12:28 pm

  3. I like WarBook best..

    Comment by Yatti — November 11, 2007 @ 12:37 pm

  4. Get outta my head!I commented to a friend two nights ago over dinner that it might just wind up that the Facebook platform amounts to nothing more than a way to integrate games with Facebook.Don't tell Lee I said that. ;)

    Comment by Jesse — November 11, 2007 @ 1:49 pm

  5. Get outta my head!

    I commented to a friend two nights ago over dinner that it might just wind up that the Facebook platform amounts to nothing more than a way to integrate games with Facebook.

    Don't tell Lee I said that. ;)

    Comment by Jesse — November 11, 2007 @ 2:49 pm

  6. Actually, all social web sites are games. The book “The Web: Hidden Games” (http://www.lulu.com/content/1269306) tries to look at them from game perspective. Certainly, it’s only one perspective among many.

    Comment by C. Weng — November 11, 2007 @ 3:28 pm

  7. [...] I questioned if Facebook has turned into a site for games and entertainment. This application supports the [...]

    Pingback by Tower Blox Brings More Fun to Facebook - The Unofficial Facebook Blog — November 12, 2007 @ 9:30 am

  8. [...] I suggested that Facebook is for fun and the odds of people using the site for productivity purposes are slim to none. While I still [...]

    Pingback by Project Management Comes to Facebook - The Unofficial Facebook Blog — November 12, 2007 @ 3:03 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

Send us a Tip

tips@allfacebook.com
[Inside Social Apps 2012]
[AllFacebook Stats: Facebook Analytics for Your Business]
[How can Facebook change your business?]

Upcoming Events

Inside Social Apps

February 8-9, 2012 | San Francisco

Inside Social Apps

Developing & monetizing on social & mobile platforms

Social Gaming Summit

23-24 May, 2012 | Berlin

Social Gaming Summit

Where Gaming Meets the Social Web

AllFacebook Marketing Conference

June 28-29, 2012 | San Francisco

AllFacebook Marketing Conference

Your how-to guide for Facebook marketing.