Facebook’s New App Verification Program Offers Protection...for a Price

Seems a bit silly but I see why they are doing this. They want to turn apps into a more respected medium of sharing rather than an object of ridicule as they often are.

I see one of two things happening: 1) Nobody buys into this game, the program is an utter failure, and this initiative goes the way of the ill-fated Beacon.

2) A few big name players buy the badge, it catches momentum, and all of a sudden you can't have a popular fb app without buying a badge. In this scenario the fb badge is analogous to the iPhone App Store top 100 because you won't have much success without being a part of the badge-holding group.

If fb ends up with scenario 2) they may have the start of monetization. They could make app developers who are trying to make money (through charging for services or display ads) pay a fee. It could even be tiered to allow the little guys to break into the app dev field and pay more if they find success.