Facebook’s verified app launch: how will it impact viral campaigns?

Techcrunch’s latest piece on Monday, in which Michael Arrington appraises the financial benefits for Facebook in  implementing its Verified Applications Programme got me thinking about whether clients would also be willing to pay extra for Facebook apps designed to supplement viral message dissemination.

For many companies that are looking at ’social media relations’ for the first time, creating virals can be a potentially powerful yet risky business. Will that shiny new Facebook app I’m using to create hype around my brand be the next iLike? Or will it be a wasteful experiment? And with the economic climate being as it is, would clients be OK with the extra cost? Should PRs include it in the fee?

The impact of this programme in terms of user uptake of verified apps is something I’d look out for, before signing up.  After all, if the verification stamp means I’ll be counted in the top 10% of FB’s 48,000 odd apps in the eyes of potential downloaders, that could well be worth that extra few hundred dollars.