Why Facebook Apps Are Your Company's Friend, Not Foe

Managers often cite popular video game applications like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, FishVille, and Happy Aquarium as justification for prohibiting Facebook at the office. Companies instead should embrace them as tools to attract and engage customers and employees. 

Consider FarmVille. The FarmVille Facebook fan page has more than 15.3 million fans and tens of thousands of post numbers — signaling that their fans are active and interested in the page content. While Michael Jackson continues to reign as the most popular person on Facebook, with 11 million fans, FarmVille now has the largest fan base on the site. FarmVille was already the largest Facebook Platform application, with over 74 million monthly active users.

It doesn't matter that feed stories like FarmVille don't reach a large percentage of fans. FarmVille only needs to reach a fraction of active users to have a large impact, according to AllFacebook. The company’s new FarmVille podcast obtained over 220,000 views, which is incredible considering it was only posted via the application’s fan page.

So why are companies spending valuable time fighting instead of embracing this social media tsunami? How can your organization capture the energy and excitement of fans through a Facebook application of your own? Or, how can your organization leverage the popularity of an application like FarmVille to communicate fans or create a buzz about your business?

Whether you are an artist, popular brand or a business, a Facebook page like FarmVille's is a great way to engage your fans, customers or users.