Can you say "Facebook bubble"?
Wow. That’s all I can say. Inside Facebook says that TripAdvisor has bought the “Where I’ve Been” app for Facebook for a massive $3-million — which works out to about $1.30 for every one of the widget’s 2.3 million users (and I use that term loosely). As the site notes, that’s about 30 times what Slide paid for the “Favourite Peeps” app a couple of months ago.
Pete Cashmore at Mashable says that works out to about $43,000 for developer Craig Ulliot for every day that his app has been in existence. Not bad. Just a little while ago, Andrew Chen wrote a blog post in which he pondered how an app like Ulliot’s might monetize its users — I guess he just got his answer.
Peter Kafka of Silicon Valley Insider says that the price paid for Where I’ve Been might not be all that insane after all, depending on what TripAdvisor does with it, and Phil Sim of Squash says flipping is nothing to be ashamed of.
Update:
This appears not to be happening. Inside Facebook has a (brief) update here.
license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
subscribe
grazr
TwitterCount
busted tees
Discussion
Comments are disallowed for this post.
Add New Comment
Viewing 9 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Just goes to show how important controlling that initial source of reach at a low cost (maximizing efficiency) is for a travel site (remember: TripAdvisor *is* Expedia. It's the Same company - as is Hotels.com, Hotwire and Classic Custom Vacations). This also mirrors the purchase of TripAdvisor by Expedia several years ago - for just about the same reason I'd imagine (buy it now to avoid having to pay to use it as an increasingly expensive advertising/reach source down the road). And - not to downplay the number in absolute terms; I'm sure the developer is tickled and should be - but $3m is peanuts compared to the global ad budgets of the brands above.
- Stuart
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
I really need to start thinking about the opportunity costs of holding down a day job.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Some good points. My thought is something along the lines of yours...
Though "Where I've Been" may have 2.3 million users, how many of them are actually active? There are so many apps that get installed and forgot about. Some people just install a given app because their friends have done so. Subsequently, they never get used. I would wager that a large percentage of FB apps fall into this category. Therefore, user numbers can be very deceiving. Perhaps 10% of all "Where I've Been" users are active. All of a sudden, it looks more like 230,000.
Just my two bits...
Cheers,
Aidan :)
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
For instance you put up a few links to dating sites and anyone that signups up you get $5.00 for. It adds up fast.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks