How to monetise a Social Network Ecosystem

Building a Consumer Ecosystem but the little bleeders won't pay and Ad Agencies are running a mile? No worries, bleed the suppliers. At any rate, thats the Facebook approach as reported today in TechCrunch. Facebook developers can apply for their Apps to be vefified (ie quality assured) on the platform - at $375 a shot. Three strikes in testing and you're out, come back in 3 months.

What is more interesting is what they are being verified for - its all about rebuilding user trust:

Secure: Protects user data and honors privacy choices for everyone across the social graph. Facebook users are deliberate and specific about which data they choose to share, how they share it, and with whom. All applications must respect users’ choices and the choices of their friends by only accessing, using and sharing data users have explicitly allowed.

Respectful: Values user attention and honors their intentions in communications and actions. Users trust that when they use your application, you will represent their intent and best interests, especially the messages you send about them or on their behalf. ie No Spam

Transparent: Explains how features will work and how they won’t work, especially in triggering user-to-user communications. Nothing is more frustrating than to click a button expecting one thing to happen and having something entirely different and confusing happen instead. Even worse is sending communications to a user’s friends that the user did not intend or want to send.

Its an object lesson in what turns people off on social networks (and also the Games people play).

And besides, Facebook doesn't want competition for its Beacon Ad Targeting (aka datamining) systems, what's the point of setting that up just for other apps to scrape it all away for free

By the way - for the Facebook frat - I still thin my idea of Paying per Poke is the best way - and double for a sheep!