• Valleywag, Wednesday, December 19, 2007 11:15 AM

Facebook is enlisted platform developers once again, this time to create a payment system. There are still few details, but the new system will most likely be built using Facebook's micropayments software that was developed for sending virtual gifts (you know, send a friend a virtual teddy bear for $1, etc.)

Yet Facebook's app-vertising economy is scarcely developed. "Most of the apps making money are ... advertising other apps." There is no established standard for effectively advertising using widgets. Nevertheless, third-party app-making agencies are popping up all over the place, ahead of what's expected to be an advertising gold rush.

All this is very troubling for Facebook, which following the disappointment of Beacon, a key component to the new Facebook Ads platform, still has to justify a $15 billion valuation. An online marketplace is another potential revenue stream, but as with its applications business, the question will be whether the company can extract significant money from it.

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