Stability of FaceBook as a business app space

In proprietary, desktop based software I have a dated genogram with some 3000 people. Seeking a way to move that data into the cybercloud, about two some years ago I began experimenting with Geni. 

Geni was an interesting concept, collaborative genogram building. The crowdware concept applied to family trees. The catch was that you had to convince family members to join Geni, and that was a significant hurdle. Join and regularly log on.

A year ago Geni deployed a FaceBook application interface. FaceBook and Geni seemed like a natural pair, a win-win for both. No need to log on to the Geni web site, every FaceBook member can install the app, and the app would fire off useful notifications.

At some point, however, Geni decided to discontinue the FaceBook app. Although the data still exists at Geni.com, the power of being able to share and collectively build the genogram through FaceBook was really the useful aspect of the program for me. Geni.com as a stand-alone web site is useless. FaceBook provided the critical social connectivity aspect.

I have effectively lost my data, at least the usefulness of my data, because an app abandoned FaceSpace. Which raises the following question: if I use FaceBook as an academic vehicle with students, do I not face the same risk of loss of presentations and other academic material when an app developer decides to pull out of FaceSpace? How stable is FaceBook as an app sphere for business critical uses?

Sure, I could develop presentations and other academic material to deploy in FaceBook using SlideShare and the like, but if the app pulls out at some future date, then I have lost potentially years of labor. Is FaceBook ultimately just a toy for connecting with people or can FaceBook mature into a platform that can support business needs?

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