Facebook's $10 million giveaway

At the TechCrunch40 conference today, we got some more buzz from Facebook. The red-hot social networking company has set up a $10 million fund to support its growing base of developers.

Basically, the mega ambition for Facebook is to build the next pervasive platform, a la Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows. Yes, it's a worthy goal -- and billions are at stake.

As for the FB (Facebook) Fund, it is not like the typical VC arrangement. That is, Facebook is not taking an equity stake; instead, the funding is actually a grant. They will range from $25,000 to $250,000.

I had a chance to interview Phil Edwards, who is the business development director at Lonely CEO Media, which is a Facebook developer. According to him:

"I'd say that it represents Facebook's passion for curating great applications. The term "grant"' is apt -- it shows that the team is interested in helping developers explore new and engaging ways to leverage Facebook users and their own resources. While I don't think it will necessarily change the level of interest in platform (it's already at a fervor), I think it does take pressure off of developers who are having trouble monetizing on an immature system."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.