The Troubling Rise of Facebook's Top Game Company

Correction Appended

Cheryl Blitman got a horrible shock when she opened her cell-phone bill. It was $170 higher than usual. Her phone company told her that her daughter had subscribed to 17 premium texting services. But Michelle, 15, was adamant; she had not. Eventually they figured out the source of the charges: FarmVille.

FarmVille is the most popular game on Facebook — 65 million unique monthly players and growing. It is also the furthest place imaginable from the seedy underbelly of the Internet. It's a hamlet where the sun always shines, crops always grow and your friends drop by to do chores accompanied by plinky guitar music. Its astonishing popularity is a testament to the potential of gaming on social networks. Social games promise the golden pork-chop combo of the addictiveness of computer games with the communality of Facebook and MySpace. And they generate some of their revenue from product come-ons, which is where Michelle — and FarmVille's owners — has run into trouble.(See how adopted children are finding their birth parents on Facebook.)

FarmVille is part of Zynga, the fastest-growing, most buzzed-about social-game company of the moment. In October, Zynga operated six of the 10 most popular Facebook games: FarmVille, Cafe World, Mafia Wars, YoVille, zyngapoker and Roller Coaster Kingdom. Founded in July 2007 by Mark Pincus, 43, Zynga had 45 staffers by June 2008 and now employs 600, counting contractors. Its most recently launched game, FishVille, hooked 9 million users in a week. Zynga is privately held, but a rival less than half its size was recently bought by Electronic Arts, the GM of games, for $400 million. How could an outfit that offers scammy mobile-phone horoscope subscriptions get so popular?

To figure that out, we have a useful analogy close at hand: FarmVille. There are two ways to move ahead in the game. One is to grind, as it's known — plow, plant and harvest. Once you've grown, say, eggplant, you accumulate enough points to move up to a wider choice of crops. You invite friends to be your neighbors. You exchange gifts and help out, all of which let you accrue the capital you need to expand your farm, thus making it ever more remunerative.(See how Facebook is redefining privacy.)

But if you want to skip all that backbreaking plowing, er, clicking, or if you've run out of friends who faux-farm, you can buy farm cash and get what you want. These virtual goods are the products that social games are actually trying to hawk. People hand over real money for make-believe merchandise. It's like using greenbacks to buy Monopoly dollars — but if you want to win, you'll pay up.

Starting a social-gaming company is also a grind. You have to do a million little things to get ahead. Industry watchers credit Zynga with figuring out hooks for its games that make people want to revisit — a combination of shrewdly timed rewards, incentives and opportunities to play with friends.

Pincus calls these the "golden mechanics." He learned them by trial and error, mainly while working on his two failed start-ups, Tribe.net and Supportsoft. He also has a behavioral psychologist on staff. Unlike traditional electronic games, which can't be changed much after they're shipped, Zynga's games constantly evolve in response to users' preferences, so they're more habit-forming. "They're making movies," he says of console-based-game creators. "What we're doing is more like weekly TV programming."

AvenueSocial focuses on strategic Facebook Game Company. At AvenueSocial, we have professional Facebook application developers who are well trained and well equipped with all the skills and technical requirements for a perfect Facebook application.

RSPCA launches Facebook game to encourage donations

A Facebook Game Company has been created by online games developer 3rd Sense with the aim to raise money for its client the RSPCA.

The announcement:

Move over FarmVille, social gaming in Australia is about to get a lot more charitable with the launch of RSPCA Rescue Shelter.

The Facebook game is an Australian first for a not-for-profit, transferring the day-to-day work of the RSPCA from the real world to the virtual world.

RSPCA Rescue Shelter tasks the player with building and running their own animal shelter. Just like a real life shelter, sick, injured and abandoned animals arrive at the shelter and the player must house, feed and care for them.

Players are given in-game cash ‘Silver Paws’ to purchase enclosures, buy food, employ qualified staff and more. Players can also earn ‘Paws’ by helping animals recover and adopting them out. But, just like in the real world, their animal shelter can always do with more and players are able to purchase ‘Gold Paws’ with real money to significantly increase their buying capacity in the game. All revenue from in-game cash purchases goes to the RSPCA to help care for their real world charges.

“Just like the RSPCA in the real world, players will be asked to care for many different animals from many different backgrounds and most of them will need significant care and attention. The RSPCA is excited to get the opportunity to translate our work into the virtual world to give people an understanding about the daily challenges we face,” said Heather Neil, CEO RSPCA Australia.

“Last year more than 150,000 animals sought refuge in RSPCA shelters. Some had been surrendered, some neglected and others were victims of terrible cruelty. The most rewarding part of our work is rehabilitating those animals and adopting them into new loving families so we want to share that joy with players too.”

“The RSPCA could not have embarked on this exciting new venture without the significant pro bono support of the game’s developers 3RD sense.”

The developers of the game are Sydney-based 3RD sense, who have charted the rise of Facebook social games and early-on identified that Facebook was changing the profile of the typical online game player.

‘Today’s online game player is more often than not a woman in her 30s who plays with and against her friends on Facebook,’ said Colin Cardwell, CEO of 3RD sense. ‘Farmville, Cityville and other social games have shifted online game-play to a much wider demographic. Over half of all Facebook users play Facebook games and more than 40% of time spent on Facebook is playing games. And a proportion of them are happy to spend money to excel in a game. When you combine that desire with the altruism of contributing to the essential work of an organisation like the RSPCA, the potential is obvious.’

RSPCA Rescue Shelter launches today in beta release. Players can access the entire game, but in addition to playing, RSPCA and 3RD sense are inviting players to provide feedback and report bugs.

The game will evolve as a result of user feedback over the coming months.

Facebook Tells Some Developers They Have 48 Hours to Authentication Data Leaks

Facebook has sent an email to what it calls a “very small percentage of the developer community” informing them their apps are suspected of leaking authentication data to third parties, and that they have 48 hours to fix the leaks or be subject to enforcement. They can become compliant by switching to OAuth 2.0, or by adding an interstitial page the removes the authentication data as a stop gap before the mandatory migration to OAuth 2.0 on September 1st.
However, several developers have posted to the Facebook Developers forum that they have checked their apps and found no data leaks. This indicates that a widespread panic may be unnecessary because some that received the warning may not actually be in violation of policy and may not need to make any changes.
The situation appears to be connected to the issue that developers using an older authentication system were purposefully or inadvertently sharing access tokens for user data with third-parties such as ad networks. This violates Facebook’s Platform Policy, though the actual negative impact to users is limited. In response, Facebook accelerated its app security roadmap, mandating a move to OAuth 2.0 which prevents the leak by September 1st, and requiring developers to attain an SSL certificate by October 1st.
Some are reporting the the email is inciting a small-scale panic amongst developers, though we’re seeing more of a state of confusion. Since the email appears to have been sent to developers singled out by Facebook’s automated system, and those that are violating policy may have done so in one of several ways, the notification doesn’t indicate exactly what developers have done wrong. Many suspect they received the message in error, and they aren’t in violation.
Facebook recommends developers use an HTTP proxy or monitor such as Fiddler or Charles to check to see if the HTTP Referrer Header is passing access tokens. If they find they are in fact violating policy, they can switch to OAuth 2.0 early. Those unsure of whether they violate policy should consider this option because they’ll have to migrate to the newer authentication system eventually. However, this may be a considerable amount of work for a relatively soon deadline.
Alternatively, developers can add an interstitial page that clears authentication data as per the Legacy Connect Auth documentation. This should be a quicker solution for those looking to ensure compliance before the deadline. If developers don’t do either and are found to be violating policy after the deadline, their apps may be suspended.

By setting a fast-approaching deadline, Facebook is taking a hard line against developers who are violating policy, either accidentally or willfully. This will send a message that the site is serious about protecting users. However, the short period of time to make changes and the potential that some developers may have received the worrisome message when they haven’t done anything wrong could hurt Facebook’s relations with the developer community.

5 Ways to Use New Facebook Page Features to Get More Likes

There’s been a lot of chatter these last few weeks about all the changes Facebook is rolling out with the upcoming update to fan pages for small business – which are basically the Facebook hub for a business, brand or entity. So, we’ve put together five ways you can make the most of the new Facebook Pages updates with the goal of generating likes and engagement.

1) Upload and tag photos

With the new Page layout highly featuring images, you should consistently upload new images of your business, team, and work, so that fresh and interesting content is front-and-center. Adding interesting images that take your business to life will increase the chance that people who visit your Page for the first time will like it and engage with your Page. This update is also a good reminder to make sure you’re tagging people who show in your photos – like yourself, as well as employees and other people your personal Facebook Profile is connected to – because tagged photos will appear on the Facebook profile wall of those tagged, which promotes your Fan Page Promotions in other places on the site, boosts brand awareness, and helps you build likes.

2) Optimize your avatar image 

The new default size for Facebook images will be 180 by 540 pixels, and the site will automatically resize your existing logo to fit inside that space. Now is a excellent time to make sure your profile image is optimized for getting more likes. Make sure your business logo is sharp, not pixilated or else fuzzy, as well as create space on your image below your logo for a short snippet of obliging information about your Page and why fans must like it. Optimizing your Facebook Pages avatar image is important because the new Page design no longer includes an “Information” box about your business under the logo. Instead, tabs are moving to this space – which means it’s also important to have a Page avatar image that isn’t too long, because your tabs will be pushed down the Page according to the length of that picture.

3) Set a custom tab as a landing Page

 The new Facebook rollout will move tabs under your avatar image, which means that people will no longer see these at the top of your Page when they visit. So, if you’ve created individual tabs to help build fans and likes, under “Edit Page,” “Manage Permissions,”  you can set one as a default landing tab. That way, fans who have not yet liked your Page will be directed to the Custom Fan Page Design tab that requests them to like the Page, rather than defaulting them to your wall, which can create a better experience and increase the number of “likes” for your Page.

4) Comment as your personal Profile on your Page

 The new Facebook Pages are shifting the way Page administrators can interact with the Page. Now, an admin will be able to switch back and forth among using Facebook as their personal profile and using Faceook as the Page. This means you’ll now be able to leave comments on your fan pages for small business as yourself, not just as the business. So, get advantage of this feature and comment on the Pages you administer, so that your comments will be shared via news feed by means of your personal Facebook social graph. This will introduce your Page’s brand to people like your friends, family, colleagues, and peers who are likely to interact and react with the same content you do.

5) Interact with other Pages 

With the new Facebook Pages, you’ll also be capable to use your Page to visit any public Pages or profiles (though most profiles won’t be accessible since most include some kind of privacy control). This feature enables you to interact other Pages in your local community that you have “liked” as the Page, like news organizations, non-profits, and businesses you are friendly with. Then, get advantage of the “Use Facebook as Page” feature to view a custom news feed that features the activity of the Pages your Page has liked and comment on their content. This will ensure that your brand is showing up in important local conversations and help boost visibility for your fan page development.

These five rapid tips can help you make the most of the Facebook Pages and help you build engagement – as well as boost the number of people who like your Page. Have you switched over to the new Facebook Page layout yet? Have you tried any of these new features? Let us know what you think about the changes – and share your Facebook like achievement tips, too! – in the comments section.

Best Way To Facebook Marketing With Groups And Pages

Are you ever took a approach  about Facebook Marketing? Many of businesses are using Facebook groups, pages, and means of  advertising to promote their business. Not to be left at the back!

Facebook Marketing with Groups management

Community building is even most used and although a well-liked method of Fan Page Promotions & online marketing. You make your official community as a group, and it can be the center of everything approximately  that has to do with your brand. Customers and also potential clients can take part in discussions on your Facebook Pages. Then you although may want to support them to share some information with others. Setting up a group always be a immense way to stay in touch with others of your potential and existing customers.

While the group function offers broad number of advantages, it also has some mentioned disadvantages. If your group contains larger than 1500 members, you certainly send a message to the whole group. This restriction really narrows your skill to further communicate with everyone quickly and easily. Groups rarely get a lot of spam even  and because of that you may not though want to set up a group.

Facebook Marketing with Pages

Facebook Pages are similar to groups, but there are some separate differences between the two. Facebook pages are a additional way that you can advertise your business and engage your customers.
One mentioned things that is completely  different between pages and groups is pages have more ability to be customized. Customize your Facebook Pages with  technologies of Flash, HTML, and Facebook applications. Groups that be on the other hand, promote a brand on that every member’s profile page. Facebook Pages are more noticeable even  and you can send a message to the entire membership that mentioned  with the click of a button.

Even if a prospect is not registered on Facebook, they can still see your company Facebook page, because Google will definitely  index it and display it in the search list. As you look more straightly at other SEO options, you often  find that since search engines index the page and not the group by  incorporating a Facebook Pages for your company may be well significance your time.

You have to customize your URL name through Facebook Pages. It is even significant to have a your domain name with those embedded keywords when you are using SEO criteria. Being able to create a way easy URL for people to remember is also great marketing on a mentioned  human level as well.

Facebook Pages account holders can schedule events, look at statistics, and invite members to events. Social ads promote every page.

After reading through the pros and cons of Facebook Pages versus groups, it may seem like pages win hands down, but really they are just a little different from each other. Pages will work best for brand promotion that needs to happen in the long term, and groups will work improved for grabbing quick attention in a short amount of time.

Whether you select a page or group depends on the goal that you have for your marketing campaign. Which one you choose simply depends on what you are trying to complete with your Facebook Marketing plan.

Pages as well as groups are simple a couple of methods for advertising on Facebook. Do your best to tailor them to your company’s specific needs, and you may just be surprised at the successes that show when social networking is part of your Facebook Marketing plan.

Facebook Marketing Strategies That Won't Annoy Your Facebook Friends

Facebook is now the third most visited site online as indicated by Alexa. Global internet users contain reached 1.7 billion people according to the 2009 stats on online users. 29% of global internet users (5100 million people) visit facebook. Any serious internet marketer must study how to market on Facebook to create leads for their business opportunity.

Network marketers the globe over jumped in, to market to all the thousands of Facebook users and all the other social networking web sites. The problem among most of the Facebook Marketing strategies is that it is very in your face and can be very annoying to the Facebook user.

Read on to obtain some Facebook Marketing tips that will assure you success and stop you from annoying people.

Take off the classified ad around your neck

Think about it. What is Facebook? It is no different to a club or else a party. A place to run into fresh people.

Have you really thought about your Facebook Marketing strategy before you started marketing on Facebook? everybody seems to follow the trend to do active marketing by adding many friends daily. What is the purpose to invite somebody as a friend only to tell them about your business when they say yes to your “request to be a friend”?

NO one attends a party with a classified ad around their neck stating: ” Hi I am so and so and I sell this or that”. You will be tagged as creepy and everyone will avoid this “strange person” at the party. It is sad that in the online world we continually do what we will perceive as strange in the actual world.

We talk about our businesses all the time to everybody even if we have just met them. This is appalling but happening daily on Twitter and Facebook and other social media web sites. We teach our downlines to do the similar and to hunt down new friends only to hand our business cards to them. Take off the advertising board on your back and be alive like a real friend and leader.

Connect with people & build relationships

The truth is, people are on Facebook to build relationships and connect with other people with similar interest. They do not care about your business and they do not wish for anyone to sell them business opportunities all the time. Unless they know you, they also don’t think about you. They choose to connect among people that interest them. Most people are as you would expect attracted to a leader. A leader is different, adds value and do things different to someone else.

Use Facebook to promote yourself as the leader you ARE and prove the value you have to offer. But be real and be a authentic person. Allow attraction marketing work for you.

Six Strategies for success in Facebook marketing

Here are 6 strategies that will assist you to use Facebook as a marketing tool without annoying your friends.

1. Make sure your profile information says who you are and what you stand for. Keep it brief and truthful. Leave the publicity and the sales pitches.
2. Do not place your mlm company replicated website link in the website field of your profile. Rather place a link to your blog where they can connect with you and learn more about YOU.

3. Think about your business and your own exclusive selling proposition. Why would somebody join you in your business? The answer to this question is serious to your success. Make a 20 word summary of who you are & add it to your profile. If you do not have an answer, this is maybe the reason for not being successful.

4. There is no point to add hundreds of friends daily if you have no purpose to connect with them.

5. If you have an active Twitter account where you tweet many times in one day, do not connect Twitter and Facebook. You will surely irritate and annoy your facebook friends if you have hundreds of status updates every day.

6. Make an attempt to search for people on your opt-in list by searching for their e-mails and request them to connect with you on Facebook.This will make your e-mail stand out from the 20 new e-mails they receive from other lists and will increase your e-mail reading rate.Most people open e-mails from their friends initial.

I use Facebook Marketing in conjunction with my other marketing strategies. Applying these little fundemental tips will add a lot of great friends (with an added bonus of converting many into leads), Make you a LOT of money and all that without annoying your Facebook friends!

This is very valuable and offers a new strategy to help you to stand out from 99% of other network marketers using Facebook for marketing. Believes in building relationships and connecting before marketing and will show you you how to, as well.

Damon Jim , my mentor, has made an exclusive free webinar on Facebook Marketing Tips.

Facebook Marketing

Facebook Marketing could be the best way of telling the whole world about your product or business existence knows how to make it well. Most Affiliate marketers would accept possibly Facebook Marketing as well as its impact on you base. You will find out however a few who have no idea of how to the entire process of marketing on Facebook. Let's discuss here some important things which may get you started served by Facebook Marketing.

Facebook Marketing should be to open a profile and as well a Fan Page regardless if you are a rand which is already known or perhaps a relatively unknown name, you'll be able to open a devotee page on your brand. Facebook gives this unique facility where your brand won't make sure but users who choose and use your service your service will ultimately be promoting your product or service and service by joining your fan page and suggesting exactly the same with their friends also. 

There are lots of marketers who are puzzled by whether they require Facebook Pages or perhaps group. With respect to the life of the business decide what you would like.

Facebook Marketing with ad space - So that you be able to advertise you, buy some ad space on Facebook. Make a research into the correct type of keywords which explain your online business. You can schedule sometime within your ads or Fan Page Promotions them in special groups or fan pages for small business that are fitted with members who might as if your product/service. Payment for ads may just be also pay per impression or pay-per-click dependent upon what you really are looking at from your ad.

Make your personal brand application - Applications like Café World and Farmville can tell you how you could market your brand through your own personal applications. Be warned why these applications would provide costly, however may be well worth the cost when you could promote your application well and when it becomes liked by the masses.

Promote events linked to your brand - The launch on the new line or celebrating brand success could be grandly celebrated and well attended virtually mutually with the launching of the event of Facebook too. Send invites to those on your friend list and so they can accordingly send those to their friends, thus making your launch or possibly a very well attended one. This Facebook Marketing is incredibly popular too.

Status updates and wall posts - The status updates and wall posts that you just create on the page are essential options for giving your brand an instant identity. Prosperity of people identify you with the kind of updates you've as well as status messages you'd put up. The complete idea after this is certainly to undertake subtle Facebook Marketing while selling your brand on the viewers.