Updated
Where I’ve Been, an application built by an independent developer using Facebook’s developer platform, has been bought for $3 million by TripAdvisor, according to Facebook-focused blog InsideFacebook.
[Update: this story, widely reported last night, is now reportedly untrue, according to Mashable.]
While this is the largest amount paid for a purchase of a Facebook app — that we know of — the purchaser, TripAdvisor, is one of the more bullish companies about Facebook and its platform. TripAdvisor is better known for its home site that offers traveler’s reviews on hotels, vacation destinations, etc.
Where I’ve Been allows people to add a world map to their Facebook profiles that they can use to show others which countries they’ve visited. So far, more than 2,381,693 people have signed up.
InsideFacebook previously reported that founder Craig Ulliot complained in June that he had 250,000 users and expensive servers running to handle the traffic, with no revenue in sight.
We’ve already called the purchase of Facebook apps a “land grab.” Slide, RockYou and a few other companies are building or buying popular Facebook applications of all sorts. Their common goal, from what we can tell, is to get as many users as possible regardless of the type of application. Then, these companies can serve ads to users via their nascent Facebook-based ad networks, or develop other means of making money.
TripAdvisor seems to have grander, travel-focused plans. It also owns similarly named Cities I’ve Visited, a Facebook app with only 1,050,705 total users.
Ulliott no longer needs to worry about how to monetize all these users — now that’s TripAdvisors problem.
Update: This blog, via Dave, suggests TripAdvisor is essentially buying “a 2.3 million long list of leads” to pursue with targeted travel deals, etc.
Tags: co:Facebook, co:trip-advisor5 Comments
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Brandon said:
Eric, you might find this interesting.
http://mashable.com/2007/08/17/tripadvisor-facebook/ -
Eric Eldon said:
Thanks, Brandon! I found it interesting and updated story accordingly.
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Michael Dalesandro said:
There have been some rumors in the market that we have sold our business. These rumors are not true. Our future development plans, combined with our robust community of users, current growth rates, and the attractiveness of the travel vertical, have led to a number of strategic discussions with potential partners/acquirers, but we have not agreed to any deals and we are committed to building Where I’ve Been into a sustainable and profitable standalone business. We are, however, exploring all avenues to maximize the value and usefulness of our product for our user base and we expect to announce new product features/enhancements, from both internal development and through strategic business partnerships, in the weeks and months ahead.
Many thanks for your interest in our company. – The WIB Team.
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John B said:
Who let the suit in? Doesn’t matter, Where I’ve Been is the best app on Facebook. I love bragging about my Chilean ski trip in the middle of August :)
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Traveler said:
I was searching for \’Business Travel\’ at google and got this your post (\’VentureBeat\’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read :)
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5:49 am
money blog » Seeing value in Facebook applications? said:
[...] owner of TripAdvisor.com, is the reported buyer of the Where I’ve Been application for a pretty penny of $3 million according to VentueBeat. [...]