I used are because I am referring to the team of people building that amazing product.

I don’t know why I hadn’t seen the connections earlier! The new paid sticker business model they are probably trying to implement is a certain winner! It even has a cool name: Sticker Store. You already expect them to be paid at some point. Your brain has already been induced that expectation when it first saw the word “store” and saw the shopping basket. The first time I entered I wondered where the paid ones were, that’s how normal it felt in my mind.

They are monetizing on something people do right now in heavy amounts: texting. Or, better said, Facebook Chatting, as almost every device is connected to the Great Internet. With a lot of people using this way of communication, they are going to score big. Who wouldn’t want “premium” smilies others don’t have, so (s)he can boast? How many are willing to pay for it?

They have about three options of making money out of this:

1) Make their own icon packs, then sell them for 99 cents per pack. Instant profit.

2) Allow designers to upload their own pre-approved packs, split the sales.

3) Sell integrated campaigns to big companies for a looooot of money (see the Despicable me stickers).

Now I also have an answer for the size of the stickers: you have a big (and dynamic) canvas to work on. Chatting as you know it will be changed forever. Just you wait and see.

Facebook would be an interesting company to work for nowadays, a lot of cool, social stuff to develop with such a big and diverse user base. Good job, Mark! (Also, good job, Mark’s team, you are a bunch of awesome people)