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Facebook markets in everything
In November, the duo created Friends for Sale, now one of Facebook's most popular games with nearly 700,000 daily players. Users buy, sell and own their friends, as though their friends were pets or stocks. Owners can control their acquisitions, forcing them to do or say things, as well as sell them and turn a profit. Those being bought and sold are also part of the game, going up and down in value.
The game has become especially popular among Facebook's crowd of users in their 20s.
Here is much more, for the pointer thanks to Marko Siladin and also Curt Gardner. I have to admit I don't really understand how this works, but it sure sounds like a "Markets in Everything" entry.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on April 1, 2008 at 05:32 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
If Tyler Cowen doesn't understand how this works, it's not worth understanding.
Posted by: Ned at Apr 1, 2008 6:03:56 PM
Tyler, since you're one of my Facebook friends, maybe I should see how much you're worth, eh?
Posted by: Franklin Harris at Apr 1, 2008 6:57:08 PM
"have to admit I don't really understand how this works, but it sure sounds like a "Markets in Everything" entry."
Ha! That made me laugh out loud.
Posted by: liberty at Apr 1, 2008 8:51:26 PM
Tyler Cowen invented facebook by roundhouse kicking a PC through Mark Zuckerberg's head!!!
Posted by: angus at Apr 1, 2008 8:58:48 PM
"Hey! We're to the movies on Friday. Wanna come?"
"Sorry man, I shorted you on Wednesday. Conflict of interest, y'know."
Man, the 21st c. is weird.
Posted by: 72 km/h at Apr 1, 2008 9:21:53 PM
Looks like someone got April Fooled and then promptly pulled down the link after realizing it!
Posted by: David at Apr 1, 2008 10:17:07 PM
Angus,
Your comment is brilliant.
I started something for you and our gracious hosts.
Posted by: 72 km/h at Apr 1, 2008 10:56:55 PM
Friends for sale is actually one of the first examples of a successful facebook app - the creator spent two weeks in man hours (he also made the highly successful "Mafia" game at the same time), and it went from zero to about a million users within two months.
It's actually a pretty interesting dynamic in the game - you want to maximize your own sale price, but to make money from other people, you can put them on "sale" and reduce the price of your "assets".
Posted by: Stephen Lin at Apr 2, 2008 1:14:40 AM
Facebook shows that there is a stock market for anything.
We are setting up North America's first social stock exchange connected to a green social network, called the Green Stock Exchange (GREENSX) at: http://greensx.com, which will be launched in the Summer of 2008 to begin trading. It will trade shares in social businesses. A social business is a business that makes a profit, but benefits society as well. We have a triple bottom line (economic + social + environmental).
Since all the listed companies on the exchange are pre-screened, evaluated, and audited according to social and sustainable guidelines set by the exchange, it will make it much easier for green investors to find and support social businesses. The GREENSX provides opportunities for small green Issuers to access public equity capital efficiently, while providing early stage investors, angel investors, and venture capitalists with greater liquidity.
It is still in the beta stage testing. Check it out at: http://greensx.com.
Posted by: David at Apr 2, 2008 3:01:43 AM
spammy von spamtastic, david at greensx is a weak attempt at clever spamming.
Posted by: shawn at Apr 2, 2008 7:45:20 AM
I think the proper term is slavery.
Posted by: jb at Apr 2, 2008 2:01:19 PM
The Extropians did this back in the mid-1990s.
Posted by: gargantua at Apr 3, 2008 8:58:11 PM
