Startup Fansnap is trying to bring the events business to Facebook, betting a social layer will help teams and rockstars fill seats.

Image via CrunchBase

FORTUNE -- I heard a new expression today: F-commerce. The "F" is for Facebook, and it refers to transactions that happen in that alternative universe that isn't merely the web, isn't specifically mobile and most definitely is not a physical store. Rather, it's commerce on that friendly service that is crowding out every other so-called platform for digital communications.

The earliest manifestation of F-commerce was Zynga, the "social" gaming company. Zynga is social in that its relatively primitive games are free and happen mostly on Facebook. The money comes from the bizarrely counterintuitive yet incredibly lucrative transactions involving virtual currency: the purchase of goods and services that only work in the game. When Zynga files its widely anticipated IPO documents, the world will see just how much money can be made on the F-platform. More