Last week Facebook unveiled Home, a social interface “launcher” for Android that turns your phone into a full-blown social media hub, complete with a notifications, instant messaging and a real-time activity feed.  The company also announced a partnership with HTC to release a midrange phone specifically built for its upcoming app suite, which will launch on April 12 in the U.S.

In his latest entry on the Wikibon blog, 1610 Group founder Scott Lowe writes that Home has potential to be more than just a more than just a pocket appliance for Facebook addicts. He predicts that if the product manages to gain traction among users, it may draw the attention of other companies and  trigger a new cross-platform trend.

“In a more general way, I see some potential for Android users as Facebook Home can bring some cross-vendor similarity to the device and package applications in a way that might make more sense for users.  If Home is a hit with the Facebook crowd, there also exists the potential that other outlets—Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, etc.—can hook into the tool and leverage its direct access to the user.”

Lowe believes that third-party adoption will be key for Facebook Home because on its own, the platform will only appeal to a minority of users.  He also thinks that it was smart of the company to “avoid the custom hardware and operating system game,” since establishing a presence in these segments would likely be more trouble than it’s worth.

In the long run, Facebook plans to monetize Home by displaying advertisements via the Cover Screen service. Lowe writes that the success of this approach that will depend on two factors: the popularity of the software, and whether Facebook is able  to “reasonably execute on this platform.”

Facebook’s cross-platform mobile strategy also has big implications for the network’s ad revenue, which contributing editor John Casaretto calls a bait-and-switch tactic. See Casaretto’s recent appearance on the NewsDesk show with Kristin Feledy for his full analysis below: