Inside Facebook

It hasn’t been too long since Facebook announced the first batch of verified applications and revamped the application directory, and some apps are already reporting good news to us.

GroupCard CEO John Anderson told us that visitors to the GroupCard about page are up by 300 per day, invites sent have doubled (thanks to higher invite limits), and so has monetization. GroupCard is a Facebook application that allows users to create cards for their friends and circulate them among up to 30 other friends per card to sign and add pictures to. The card is then delivered to the recipient at the delivery time specified.

The stats makes sense. The whole point of the Application Verification Program is to give select applications heightened visibility through benefits including priority ranking in the application directory (with a green check mark), a badge on the app’s profile page, a two-bucket boost in notification and request viral channel allocations, and free advertising.

“Verification has enabled greater collaboration on GroupCard, which is great for users. The more signatures, the better the final product,” Anderson says.

The App Verification Program is off to a good start, but long-term success will depend not only on metrics such as increase in profile visits, but also increase in monthly active users (MAU). According to AppData, over the past 30 days, GroupCard’s MAU has declined, but this number could easily go up if GroupCard continues to see good stats.

In an earlier post, we suggested that if verified apps are getting the exposure the program promises, then the $375 fee will be well worth it. So far, we’re seeing beginning signs in that direction, but developers will have to be strategic about taking that increase in initial interest and converting it into engagement.

GroupCard is a 2008 fbFund winner that is also taking part in early tests of Facebook’s payment system.