One involves Jason Calacanis who has decided to declare Facebook Bankruptcy over how many people are pinging him via Facebook Apps, wherein he’s basically thrown up his hands and has given up. (Boo hoo, I’m too popular). The other involves Mike Arrington’s post over at TechCrunch where he details how there is a burgeoning business in trying to monetize Facebook applications — most noticeably (for me) through selling ad space *on* Facebook applications.

Both of these posts taken together portent a potential backlash coming at Facebook applications, and no, I don’t mean just the usual fooferah around Facebook Bankruptcy. This is how.

• Everyone and their sister is drooling over the possibility over creating an application that has the viral potential to be “signed up” by millions of people almost over night.
• There are many ways to potentially monetize Facebook applications, and a popular one seems to be advertising.
• Facebook applications seem like a fantastic opportunity for advertisers (and Facebook app owners) because many Facebook users have not altered their privacy settings, and therefore many applications have access to demographic drill-down type data that advertisers crave.
• The problem is that many Facebook users, have, in fact, not yet noticed that they are being targeted in this fashion — and I suspect that many, when they will, will not like it.
• Furthermore, many Facebook users, particularly users of widg– I mean, applications — are also probably not fond of the whole idea of applications trying to sell ad space on *their profile*, essentially monetizing their activities (and in a circular way, their friends) absolutely gratis.
• Add to this supposition that Facebook applications have been multiplying like weeds, I suspect many Facebook users — particularly the hyper connected ones, such as Mr. Calacanis — are probably getting fed up with these little applications. Signed up users for applications is one thing, but active and retained users are another.
• If my presumptions about Facebook users are true, we could see a time very soon when a great deal of Facebook users will realize that a great deal of coin is being made off of their profiles, using their demographics, in applications that were not previously used as platforms for displaying ads, on a social networking site that has been generally inconspicuous with ads, which is now seeing an overproliferation of applications, creating a widespread ennui of “poke-itis”.
• And if this is the case, we might in fact, see a backlash against these applications, and an en-masse signing off or removing of Facebook applications.

Now, we already had a meme going on about Facebook bankruptcy this past weekend, with several prominent tech bloggers proclaiming how useful — or not — it was. Surprisingly, I don’t expect much, if any, of that conversation to actually trickle down to the everyday Facebook user, since it is so mainstream (at least in Toronto).

Much ado about nothing really.

What will be much more interesting is if there is a real user backlash, in real aggregate numbers, around Facebook Applications. I don’t know who or what will set it off, but all it may take is a few hyperconnected nodes — er, users — to realize what is happening, put the dots together, and set a few groups going on the topic.

A few tech bloggers discussing about Facebook Bankruptcy is one thing. A revolt against the wholesale selling of adspace on personal profiles — by a second hand party, no less — with none of it going back to the profile “owner” is another thing entirely.