Advertising and Commerce are Business Models for Many Apps, Just not Facebook, at the Moment

For applications and services that do not envision a "subscription" revenue model, and assuming "donations" is not feasible, either advertising or commerce (selling things) consistently are viewed as the best alternatives. 

Of course, what is necessary might not be sufficient. In other words, successful apps and services not using a "subscription" revenue model will mostly have to rely on either advertising, or commerce, or both. But not every firm that tries, will succeed.

So far, Facebook might be considered by some a firm that has not yet "succeeded" with its advertising or commerce models. That doesn't mean Facebook will fail, only that it has not yet clearly succeeded. 

According to the survey by youth marketing agency The Beans Group, 91 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds in the United Kingdom say they are not interested in buying products or services directly through Facebook. 

The apparent  lack of confidence in Facebook commerce likely is a surprise to some brand marketers.  Ant Stone, content marketing manager at STA Travel, says: “We are making an assumption that everyone is on Facebook or Twitter and we want to provide the same sort of services that we provide outside these channels, so we are reflecting our retail space on Facebook.

“This study  might prioritize the areas we step into first. We might not go for the f-commerce route, we might spend more time and resource in the smartphone quarter,” he says. 

According to Vision Mobile, "purchasing,"  either in form of in-app purchases or an actual application purchase, are the two most popular revenue models for app store developers.