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FT roles out it’s own students-only facebook app

By Andrew Redfern @ 6th March 2008 10:19 am

Noticed this exclusiveby Robert Andrews over on paidContent.co.uk :

FT.com will tomorrow begin giving free subscriptions to college students via Facebook, we can reveal. The news site will launch an app that gives users a PIN code which can be redeemed for an annual premium sub.

The app will only be available to those users who are identified at the social site as students and the subscriptions will expire after 12 months but can be renewed for up to four years, which, at current prices, makes it worth £396 ($436, 476 euros). The app can be shared with users’ student friends, will appear in their newsfeeds and will place a badge on their profiles.

The article quotes the FT’s Ien Cheng:

“We’re an old and august brand but we respect and admire a brand like Facebook, There are users on the internet who don’t know FT all that well yet. Students are relatively unlikely to pay money for a subscription but they are our future readers. It’s a great way for an old brand to promote itself to a new audience. Clearly, there’s a viral element here.”

“Facebook started as a university social network – we’re building on its student verification procedure. It’s part of the general trend to making it free – but in a segmented way.”

Read Robert’s article in full here.

I wonder if the app could be expanded to funnel graduates into the FT’s own executive social network?

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