A Facebook App User is Worth $0.20 (sorry guys)

Zuckerbucks continues to grow, and I continue to be impressed by the micro-economy it has created. While I am very proud of the app and especially impressed by the hard working users it has attracted, its growth has not met my expectations.

Since many very popular apps are incredibly trivial in nature – my expectation was that throwing some real products into the mix would lead to far more expansive growth. In reality, what I have seen is relatively measured linear growth proportional to the amount of products (money) I put in.

My goal is still to establish critical mass – where the currency takes on a value beyond the supporting products. The beginning of this ecosystem is definitely visible. The key is to continue to share Zuckerbucks’ power as an “application booster rocket” when the Zuckerbucks API is integrated into other apps.

Value of a Facebook User

My experience with Zuckerbucks validates Lee Lorenzen’s (Altura Ventures) claims that a user (or application install) is worth $.10 – $.25 (with apologies to my wonderful users, I hate to put a price on you).

Since I launched Zuckerbucks in early July, about 8,600 Facebook users have added (and kept) the app. Zuckerbucks is currently growing by about 100-150 users per day.
This corresponds with an investment of around $2000. That puts the cost of user acquisition at $0.23 user. This does not count probably 150-200 hours of development and community management (and obsessively checking the Zuckerbucks discussion board).

Value of a Zuckerbuck

In order to determine what I should charge sponsors for “app adds” (outgoing links), I calculate the value of a Zuckerbuck based on the completed auctions. The value has stayed fairly consistently in the range $0.01 – $0.03/Z. My promotions generally pay a Zuckerbucks user Z20 ($.20-$.60) to add another app.

This doesn’t include several open auctions beyond 8/28. Also, I need to analyze the number of bids in more depth because my original hypothesis was that auctions would be useful advertising mechanism (allowing advertisers to capture who is interested in a particular product).

Zuckerbucks as launch vehicle

What Zuckerbucks has been particularly good at is helping plateaued apps reach new groups of users and continue their growth. Incentivized links, while they don’t guarantee a user will keep your app, do guarantee a “hard working” user – someone who is likely to promote your app further if it is right for them.

This graph shows the number of users paid to add each app since a particular date (ActionSports incorporates Zuckerbucks using the API, there is no promotion for adding the app). Obviously, other factors contribute to an app’s growth, but this demonstrates that Zuckerbucks promotions and API integration definitely assist growth.

Please get in touch (adamloving -at- gmail) if you’d like to discuss promoting your app or adding Zuckerbucks inside your app using the Zuckerbucks API