PayPal cuddles up to Facebook
23/07/2007 at 18:57
PayPal are running a developers competition for Facebook applications (sadly only open to US residents). Naturally the application has to use PayPal but it’s a great way for PayPal to make inroads into the 30 million odd Facebook users.
Judging will be based on:
- Creativity: Is the application engaging and innovative? – 30%
- Quality: Does the application work intuitively and as expected? – 30%
- Functionality: Is the application useful? Does it fulfill customer’s needs? – 40%
It will be interesting to see what the developers come up with, monitising Facebook for users will only make it more attractive, and of course if applications are developed first for PayPal it’s shutting another door in the face of Google Checkout. They’ll be playing catchup once again.
There’s one oddity with this competition, there are two “First Prizes” of $5,000, and four “Second Prizes” of $2,500. There’s also a “Grand Prize” of $10,000, but come on…… two first prizes?
Why the hell they want my email user name and passwords with no explanation I do not know, but it was enough to send me running 
What are they going to do? Open me an account with my email address and password?
Dan Wilson says
7:13 pm on 23/07/2007
Been compeltely addicted to facebook, it’s amazing… and potentially a powerful tool for business.
Francisco says
7:25 am on 24/07/2007
Great move by PayPal. Facebook is the new Google so the earlier links are established the better. Facebook rocks.
northumbrian says
7:30 am on 24/07/2007
my daughter loves it
I just look at it and go blank, there is no buy it now, or auctions ending soon
Chris Dawson says
12:05 pm on 24/07/2007
There could be some huge bonuses for developers whether they win or not. The top Facebook widgets have seen huge traffic increases since hooking into the Facebook pool of users.
Won’t do PayPal any harm either
Sue says
12:30 pm on 24/07/2007
Can someone find me a Dummies Guide to Facebook or similar, coz I’ve registered and I dunno what I’m supposed to do next
Chris Dawson says
12:48 pm on 24/07/2007
Dunno Sue, I went to have a look, clicked “Find your friends” and was greeted by a screen saying
“If you have a Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, MSN or AOL email, you can enter your email login and password now to find friends in your address book who are on Facebook.”
I’m sorry but I was totally put off by the thought of phishing!
Why the hell they want my email user name and passwords with no explanation I do not know, but it was enough to send me running 
What are they going to do? Open me an account with my email address and password?
I might be a bit old fashioned when it comes to Internet values but I don’t actually want my old school friends contacting me out of the blue, so signing up to anything that smacks of Friends Reunited puts me off to start with.
It’s about time I took a look from a business perspective, but for socialising?? Yeuch! I’ll live that to the skool kiddies
Anyone with experience of FaceBook I’ve started a thread about it in the TameBay Forum – if you’d care to pop in and offer some advice it’d be appreciated
northumbrian says
6:41 am on 25/07/2007
no good at all to me
I would need some friends first
Biggles says
8:53 am on 25/07/2007
You enter your details Chris so that facebook can email everyone in your contact book on those other sites/msn/etc ( if you let it ) to tell them you are now on facebook. ” come and be my friend here”. Those messages get old quickly.
oh.. look out for the wallpaper cherry stealers.
Chris Dawson says
9:05 am on 25/07/2007
“email everyone in your contact book”
Yes I understand that part… but if I’ve not got an account with Facebook yet isn’t it a bit premature to start asking for my email user names and passwords? Wouldn’t it be a better idea to get me to set up an account first?
Just strikes me as strange…. Here phishy phishy phishy…