As interest heats up around the expected Demand Media IPO in fall, which could garner as much as $1.5 billion, it appears Facebook may be entering the outsourced content space.
A sample of Facebook users last week encountered advertisements that asked them to "Help us build the future of Facebook."
The message continued, outlining a "brand new product" that "provide[s] great answers" to popular topics – an offering that closely mirrors the search engine optimized and demand-driven content generation of Demand Media, its product eHow, and others like Mahalo, Associated Content and Wikihow.
The page’s goal is to recruit potential writers for the service, who can show "evidence that you can write clearly and authoritatively on familiar subject matter." It continues by enticing them with the promise of a visit to Facebook headquarters for the "best beta testers."
If true, Facebook’s move would be a compelling one: the platform already boats an education demographic, and if they can pay writers in Facebook’s new virtual currency, it will reinforce the network’s mircoeconomy and minimize overhead.
Below, a screenshot of the page (http://www.facebook.com/product_application/) and the introductory text.
"We at Facebook are preparing to launch a brand new product to the world. We think it will be as exciting as Facebook Photos and Facebook Events, but we need your help to make it great.
As a beta tester, your job will be to ask great questions and provide great answers about your favorite topics. Economics? Skydiving? Relationships? Mexican Restaurants? It’s up to you. You’ll be the first person outside of Facebook to use this product. Your expert writing will be seen by tens of millions of people — including job recruiters. And we’ll bring our best beta testers out to California to tour Facebook headquarters and meet the team"