ChasNote

According to AdWeek, brands building their own Facebook applications are struggling to stand out among the tens of thousands of other apps, and most — like Nike’s Ballers Network — aren’t racking up impressive install numbers:

“Six months later, Nike is confronting a dilemma familiar to many brands that charged headlong onto Facebook: very few people use Ballers Network. Despite its global ambitions and support in three languages, the application has a mere 3,400 users per month. According to Nike, it’s still testing the application.

“Brands, in general, have found Facebook unforgiving terrain for marketing. It’s well known, for instance, that banner ads perform poorly on the site. (A recent IDC report called advertising on social networks ’stillborn.’) But the Facebook Platform, launched 18 months ago — which lets developers create social applications for users — was thought to offer the perfect opportunity to move beyond banners to provide ‘branded utility.’ So far, however, Facebook apps from brands like Coca-Cola, Champion, Ford and Microsoft are as popular as desolate Second Life islands.”

But to call advertising on social networks “stillborn” ignores many programs where brands successful partner with applications like Graffiti, such as Acuvue

• Disappearances rip

, BMW, and Intel, among others.

And it’s a reckless point of view. Facebook is deeply engaged with tens of millions of your customers. Deeply engaged with them. Sure, the marketing models and formats aren’t yet perfect. But taking your ball and going home just isn’t an option.

UPDATE: iMedia is out with its Predictions for 2009 report, in which they asked me for my take. One question is relevant to the above. They asked, “In what news ways will marketers use social networks?” My comment:

“They’ll stop looking at Facebook or MySpace as coherent media ‘things.’ Instead, they’ll view social networks as platforms — like multiple-system operators (MSOs) in cable TV — and work harder to find the communities — the ‘media properties’ — on top of those platforms.”

Business Week recognizes Nike’s success in social-media marketing where others have failed:

“In the two years since it launched Nike+, a technology that tracks data of every run and connects runners around the world at a Web site, nikeplus.com, Nike has built a legion of fans. In August, for instance, 800,000 runners logged on and signed up to run a 10K race sponsored by Nike simultaneously in 25 cities, from Chicago to Sao Paulo.”

Of course, because this is social media and not, say, public relations or television advertising, Business Week feels obliged to ask, is there any value to all of this?

“How Nike+ benefits the company’s bottom line is harder to gauge.”

The article cites a market research firm whose data shows Nike’s share of running shoes sold in the US was 48% in 2006, and rose to 61% by 2008, though it’s hard to say how much of this share gain can be attributed to the Nike+ program. I bet the answer is, quite a lot. Nike’s given a few million of its best customers reason to check in with the Nike brand a few times a week, and given those customers a compelling gimmick for enlisting their running buddies to do the same.

From the write up at my colleague Mark Chu Cheong’s site on Nike iD’s latest campaign:

“Recently, Nike’s digital agency, Razorfish collaborated with Watercooler Sports and Federated Media to translate the product’s level of customization to their display advertising efforts. (Disclosure: I work for FM.) The Watercooler platform enables television and sports fans to connect. Over 20 million users have joined Watercooler fan communities on leading social networks including Facebook, MySpace, etc. Nike ID tapped into these communities’ individual identities by having the display ads automatically reflect the team colors.”

Here’s how your ad looks if you root for the New Orleans Hornets: