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I'm currently working for a company that doesn't have any Facebook presence. I've been having thoughts about working a rogue project that involves Facebook connect and API integration with our current web application. My plan is to develop a working demo, then show at 80% completion and somehow justify its existence, but I have to be careful how I do this.

Obviously it depends on the app, and how it related to the company etc., but how should I go about justifying its value given what we know about Facebook now, and what it holds for the future? The app should do most of the talking, but I'll still need a plan for future growth and an effective way to bring users away of Facebook to ultimately drive them to ours.

I know this is pretty generic, but if anyone could share similar experiences, it would be a great help.

Thanks, Acorn

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Just do it. If it makes money they'll support it. –  rball Jun 24 '09 at 17:04
Don't do a rouge project, make it mauve. I think mauve has the most RAM. –  CoverosGene Jun 24 '09 at 17:12
LOL @CoverosGene –  Daniel Earwicker Jun 24 '09 at 17:22
Well, shoot. I was going to edit to fix the spelling, but I see CoverosGene has brilliantly blocked my editing impulse. –  Nosredna Jun 24 '09 at 17:47
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3 Answers

You're going to need to show ROI which could be eyeballs coming in to your site or expected purchases based on traffic (depending upon what your company does and how they're paid).

Look for examples of other similar companies currently on Facebook and see how may "friends" they have. You can use these numbers as a way to show the number of people that could become your customers if only a Facebook application existed that would drive them there.

EDIT: And a further note. If there are no companies like yours on Facebook that's either a) a golden opportunity for your company (since being there could get you customers), or b) a good reason not to be there in the first place (i.e. no expected revenue generation).

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Interesting problem. Rogue projects make companies nervous and paranoid.

What would happen if you asked for 4 hours a week to do some R&D? If they went with that, they might be pleased with having something come out of it instead of ticked.

It depends on management and what they think of you already.

I did see one rogue project work spectacularly well. It was a subversive attack to replace a project that was already going and perceived as the wrong approach by some. The rogue project had a natural constituency of supporters. Will you have that?

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That's the thing... I'm fairly new to the company which makes me think my idea is a little premature. This would be more of an enhancement to the current site and a means to drive more traffic, but it's not mission critical. –  Acorn Jun 24 '09 at 18:18
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Facebook Connect requires you to have a Facebook application to connect with, that's how the validation occurs. The Facebook application doesn't have to do anything or have any content, it doesn't even have to be submitted for approval. But it does have to be setup and configured. For security reasons, it also has to be hosted on the same primary domain as the website using it. It can be a subdomain, but the primary domain has to be the same. So keeping it hidden may be a problem.

After that, you need to integrate it with your backend. You're basically allowing an outside service to log the user into your site. Most sites are not configured to support something like that. That's the hard part, even if there is buy in.

I've created and manage over 20 Facebook applications for my current company, which has multiple web sites. I've created a working demo with Connect functionality, wall posting, friend inviting, and friend information querying. It's not a matter of convincing someone to do it, it's convincing someone to allocate to the resources to do it. So far it's been implemented for 2 promotions and 0 web sites.

That said, when Facebook users send out invites, we've seen on average 10-15 friends invited (default max is 20). Far more than if you asked them to enter email addresses. That's beside all the other cool stuff you can do when you can connect with someone's social network.

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What does this have to do with the question? –  defines Jul 1 '09 at 13:39
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