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Amid the gold rush among startups to launch ad networks to monetize Facebook widgets, VentureBeat points out one intriguing new player: Google.
Microsoft has a lock on Facebook page advertising in the U.S., but Facebook has given third party app developers carte blanche to monetize their own apps using any network they please. To date, startups such as RockYou, Lookery, and VideoEgg have gone for that market full-tilt. Is Google diving in as the fly in their soup?
VentureBeat's Eric Eldon suggests this may be Google's toe in the water as it prepares to announce an open platform for Orkut, its big-in-Brazil social network. He also reports that Google has been courting third-party developers in advance of the announcement.
With the entire Facebook economy in throw-it-at-the-wall mode, it stands to reason that Google—or anyone—would dabble. Tomorrow my Epicenter colleague Bryan Gardiner will collect the dish as he attends the Widget Summit 2007 in San Francisco. Stay tuned.
