Monetizing Facebook and its relationship to content

Facebook has changed social networking in ways that we are not even aware of yet, from connecting with friends, to finding out about cool new media, and finally the push towards ultra cool and functional widgets.

But, as Facebook slowly grows towards possibly surpassing MySpace in users (Facebook now has over 40 mil. to MySpace's 75 mil. +.), is this just the beginning of things to come?

As much as most people, I am a bigger fan of the social networking capabilities of Facebook, than say MySpace, with the favourite thing for me being the incorporation and promotion of widgets on the site. From encouraging developers to design and promote new applications, which are now being sold for as much as 20k on EBay (that distinction goes to the I'm Hungry app.) it seems the development possibilities are endless.

But one area that MySpace has been doing a better job at recently would have to be in the promotion and development of multi-platform media for their site, that has seen everyone from large media companies like Sony with old TV series, to smaller companies like Michael Eisner's Vuguru and Big Fantastic with Prom Queen, having their content shown to large numbers.
So far Facebook will and has utilized media content on their site by pushing their customers to off-platform locations that they have strategic relationships with, in turn keeping their business model fluid by not hosting content directly on their platform, which provides for strategic advertising as well.

But, probably one of the biggest upcoming payoffs for Facebook will be in their roll out and development of mobile applications, including their new advertising initiatives.

One of the key areas for monetization will be in the execution of advertising for a company's product/service or media project through their Facebook page, which will hopefully allow for more freedom on the part of the content producer.

Right now if you are a content producer looking to promote your content, the best thing to do is to remain fluid and entrepreneurial enough so the bugs can get sorted out, while continuing to promote and package what you do for maximum results.