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 …

According to a recent Los Angeles Times piece (link: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-webwriters17dec17,0,4998256,full.story?coll=la-home-center ), writers in Hollywood are trying to sidestep the need for Big Media's marketing and distribution power by creating Web media ventures with Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Bad move, at least right now, because precious few pieces of original content on the Web make any money. Even so, former Hollywood professionals are partnering with big online companies like MySpace to trudge through these uncharted waters. Better them than the writers, because the development of a sustainable revenue model may take longer than the VCs have patience for, leaving …

An unnamed source discusses the shame that was (is?) Facebook's Beacon and posits an interesting theory on the right way to roll out a peer-to-peer recommendation system. For starters, piling such a system on its users without first making an attempt to warm them up to the idea was foolish. If Facebook had offered a non-commercial version of the program, which tracks your purchases and then broadcasts that information to your friends via your profile news feed, focusing on what users published themselves--like video clips, for example--Beacon might not have been so bad. Swisher points out that …

Online gambling companies in the European Union were dealt another harsh blow yesterday after regulators agreed to a compensation deal with the U.S. for shutting foreign companies out of the country's gambling industry. Sadly for gaming companies, they benefited in no way from the trade. The U.S. extended opportunities for European businesses to compete in the following sectors: U.S. postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse. Members of the disappointed online gaming industry said the EU had now lost the chance to open up the $15 billion a year U.S. gambling market. The crackdown began …

The online advertising industry continues to grow apace, expected to hit $20 billion this year; yet Web executives say the Internet ad biz is under-performing, due to unreliable ratings. Web measurement is a complicated issue. Whereas TV and radio have one main source for ratings, there are several on the Web. And not only does their data conflict, there are disagreements over what measurement criteria to use-is it page views, monthly uniques, click streams, or average time spent per user? The lack of uniformity is keeping the Web biz from being all that it can be. "This …

Cell phone networks are headed toward an open future, which means companies that once depended on the closed-door environment provided by the cellular carriers could soon be forced out of business. One analyst says mobile virtual network operators like Helio could be in danger, especially as Google and others fight to free the mobile Web. MVNOs like Helio largely depend on their brands and exclusive content relationships to sell subscriptions. They license spectrum from carriers like Verizon Wireless and AT&T, tack on some kind of content arrangement, and then sell slightly more expensive subscriptions. If Google succeeds …

Sellers no longer need eBay like they once did. They're finding more success at their own sites and third-party retailers like Amazon.com. Meanwhile, eBay has raised its seller fees, angering sellers, who have increasingly become "disenchanted" with the online auctioneer. Last week, the NYT said Amazon should buy eBay. "EBay has gone from the channel of first resort to the channel of last resort" for merchants, says Scot Wingo, chief executive of Chanel Advisor, a company that helps large firms sell through eBay and other online retailers. Sellers simply aren't making as much money as they …