In the recent move allowing applications to reside outside of its main website, Facebook sets the stage to become the internet’s social backbone. The change allows Facebook to sell its #1 asset: the social graph as shortcut for all future social applications to launch features quickly while piggy-backing on Facebook’s existing user-base. I think 3rd party applications is key to growth: with so many new ideas bouncing around, it’s impossible for Facebook to sustain feature-by-feature superiority through in-house innovation.  The entire concept of becoming a social application platform is about stepping outside of this unwinnable race for features and become the business that paves the road for the race (or more literally, brings the crowd to the race).

Keep an eye out for even richer, more interactive Facebook apps as they break out of their little 400px wide sandbox and into the big leagues!