Facebook App Where I've Been Acquired for $3 Million

Update: This purchase did not happen. The news was falsely reported on a Blog and I made the mistake of propogating this false message. I apologize to any readers. The companies are apparantly in discussion but no deal has been consumated.

The financial markets may be melting down but there are a lot of positive things happening in the Internet world. Today, a little travel application created by a lone developer sold for $3 million to travel site TripAdvisor. The application, called Where I’ve Been is a Facebook application, meaning it runs within the Facebook social network environment. It allows users to show where they have traveled to around the world and share the information with their friends.

The sale is important because it is the largest amount a company has paid for the purchase of a Facebook app. These apps are relatively easy to create and have shown the ability to attract enormous numbers of users very quickly. The sale will undoubtedly inspire a fresh wave of app creation on the Facebook platform.

What is interesting is that if you travel to the Where I’ve Been Site, they clearly show their desire to transcend Facebook and place apps on MySpace, and Blogs. Clearly, the company is thinking correctly and not limiting itself solely to Facebook. I’m sure this was part of the attraction to TripAdvisor.

It still remains to be seen whether the Facebook application itself is a long-term place to develop applications and whether it makes sense for companies. I personally believe it is another channel for a company to exploit, and not a stand-along business opportunity.