Does Facebook Need a Digital Currency?
Sep 24, 2007 Business & Marketing, Lookatme, I'm Web 2.0!
[File this one under: So Simple I Wish I Would Have Thought of it First]
Does Facebook need a digital currency? Apparently a LOT of people think so. If you haven’t heard of Acebucks, you’re about to. And if you are an active Facebook user, it is only a matter of time until you too have installed and are using the Acebucks application.
What is Acebucks? Simply put it’s an underground currency on Facebook. It allows users to buy and sell digital goods, hold auctions, give gifts, and send digital money to one another. The market for this virtual stuff is HUGE. One only need look at SecondLife, World of Warcraft, or Entropia to see how big virtual economies can become. I remember reading a stat somewhere (sorry it’s almost 1:00 in the morning and I am NOT doing the research to back this claim up) that SecondLife’s economy would be 31st richest economy in the world if it were its own country. Then you hear of people selling virtual land–we’re talking land that is digital, ONES and ZEROS, here–for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It just goes to show what a little bit of too much free time can do.
Whenever a digital currency is combined with an open marketplace, you can expect things to explode. How exactly will this work on Facebook? Time will tell. Will I be able to sell and buy little badges that people can display on their FB page that say “You Rule!” on them? Probably. It will get really interesting though once they start tying into offline goods. I’d love to sell some ebooks through Facebook. Or even buy a few thousand diggs or stumbleupons from Facebook users. BuddyMedia has said that they will start tying in an offline store and selling things like iPods using AceBucks. They also stated that they’ll be releasing an API that other application developers can use AceBucks through.
This is going to pretty interesting. A userbase in the millions like Facebook means there is a lot of opportunity for a lot of people. How much opportunity? Well, the makers of AceBucks just secured a $1.5 million dollar round of financing if that’s any hint. Someone somewhere thinks this is a worthwhile endeavor. I think they’re right.
Acebucks via
