A Few More Tickets for Inside Social Apps 2010 Will Be Released Tomorrow

• Apr 13th, 2010
Business, facebook, Marketing, monetization, Payments, Social Games, VirtualGoods

April 20 | San Francisco

Inside Social Apps 2010, our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms, is coming up one week from today. We had to turn off registration over the weekend because we’re at capacity, but tomorrow at 11am US PT we’ll be making a small number of additional tickets available, so we encourage you to register then to reserve your spot.

On April 20th in San Francisco, one day before Facebook’s official “f8″ event, many of the leading developers from around the world will be gathering to discuss the future of monetization inside social apps and games on Facebook and beyond.

At Inside Social Apps 2010, executives and experts from leading social game and app developers, payment services, advertising providers, and investors will be discussing the future of virtual goods monetization in social apps and games from a global perspective. The event will be held at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF, located at 1675 Owens St in San Francisco (map). The full agenda for the day is available here.

The full list of speakers at Inside Social Apps 2010 is below:

We encourage you to register tomorrow at 11 am US PT.

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco

Three years after the Facebook Platform launched in 2007, what started out as sheep throwing and vampire biting has quickly become a profitable billion-dollar industry. Today, social games monetizing through virtual goods have quickly become one of the hottest sectors of technology and entertainment, both in the US and around the world. Where are social apps going, and who is leading the way?

Inside Network is proud to announce our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms: Inside Social Apps 2010, happening April 20th in San Francisco, is bringing together the world’s leading entrepreneurs all in one place to discuss the future of social applications and games monetizing through virtual goods.

This will be an in-depth one day event geared toward developers on Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone, senior executives, and investors. At Inside Social Apps 2010, founders and CEOs of the top social gaming, mobile social gaming, payments, and virtual goods infrastructure companies will be tackling the key issues facing the industry. We’re hosting it one day before Facebook’s “f8″ event in San Francisco, so this will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the key issues facing the future of the Facebook Platform and beyond before Facebook’s official event.

Register Now


Space is almost sold out, so we encourage you to register tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11am US PT.

From all of us at Inside Network, we hope to see you on April 20th in San Francisco!

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco – Is Almost Sold Out

• Apr 8th, 2010
Business, Connect, facebook, Metrics, monetization, MySpace, Social Games, VirtualGoods

April 20 | San Francisco

Inside Social Apps 2010, our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms, is now only a few days away – and almost sold out, so we encourage you to register now to reserve your spot. On April 20th in San Francisco, one day before Facebook’s official “f8″ event, many of the leading developers from around the world will be gathering to discuss the future of monetization inside social apps and games on Facebook and beyond.

At Inside Social Apps 2010, executives and experts from leading social game and app developers, payment services, advertising providers, and investors will be discussing the future of virtual goods monetization in social apps and games from a global perspective. The event will be held at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF, located at 1675 Owens St in San Francisco (map). The full agenda for the day is available here.

The full list of speakers at Inside Social Apps 2010 is below:

Finally, the last set of “general admission” tickets is now available through Friday at a price of $429. This price will change after Friday, and space is very limited and nearly sold out, so we encourage you to register now.

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco

Three years after the Facebook Platform launched in 2007, what started out as sheep throwing and vampire biting has quickly become a profitable billion-dollar industry. Today, social games monetizing through virtual goods have quickly become one of the hottest sectors of technology and entertainment, both in the US and around the world. Where are social apps going, and who is leading the way?

Inside Network is proud to announce our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms: Inside Social Apps 2010, happening April 20th in San Francisco, is bringing together the world’s leading entrepreneurs all in one place to discuss the future of social applications and games monetizing through virtual goods.

This will be an in-depth one day event geared toward developers on Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone, senior executives, and investors. At Inside Social Apps 2010, founders and CEOs of the top social gaming, mobile social gaming, payments, and virtual goods infrastructure companies will be tackling the key issues facing the industry. We’re hosting it one day before Facebook’s “f8″ event in San Francisco, so this will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the key issues facing the future of the Facebook Platform and beyond before Facebook’s official event.

Register Now


The last set of “general admission” tickets is available through Friday at a price of $429. This price will change after Friday, and space is almost sold out, so we encourage you to register as soon as possible.

From all of us at Inside Network, we hope to see you on April 20th in San Francisco!

Announcing Inside Facebook Gold – Our New Data & Analysis Membership Service

• Apr 8th, 2010
Advertising, Business, China, Connect, Design, facebook, Infrastructure, international, iphone, Legal, Marketing, Metrics, Mobile, monetization, Payments, Social Games, VirtualGoods

When I first started InsideFacebook.com in 2006, Facebook was already a staple of college life and a sign of the future of the social web. Since then, it has grown to become a very widely adopted communications and identity service, a powerful advertising and entertainment platform, and a household name as one of the world’s largest websites. But even today, Facebook’s full potential still lies ahead in the years to come as the social graph becomes more embedded in media, applications, and devices all around us.

These days, Facebook’s business has become a big deal for brands marketing to the millions of users logging in on a daily basis, for entrepreneurs building businesses on its platform, and for analysts and investors interested in charting Facebook’s growing revenues. Facebook is no longer simply a social networking website – it has become a broad online ecosystem, supporting thousands of related businesses and on track to doing over $1 billion in revenues this year.

It’s this extraordinary growth and potential, and also the underlying complexities and unknowns, that have attracted the attention of so many. With InsideFacebook.com, AppData.com, and reports like the upcoming Facebook Quarterly Business Review (we’ll have more info soon), we at Inside Network have sought to deeply analyze and understand Facebook’s potential as a social utility, a platform for developers and advertisers to do business, and a growing business itself. But, readers have consistently requested more business-focused analysis and in-depth coverage of key ecosystem issues.

All these reasons make us very excited to announce Inside Facebook Gold, an exclusive new analysis and data membership service specifically dedicated to tracking Facebook’s business and growth around the world – and the impact of Facebook’s product and policy decisions on the thousands of businesses worldwide that are investing in it.

Inside Facebook Gold is directed at entrepreneurs, agencies, analysts, and investors who want to stay ahead of Facebook’s rapid worldwide growth, make more informed business decisions based on Facebook product and policy developments, and understand the full scope of opportunities the Facebook ecosystem presents.

Inside Facebook Gold includes weekly in-depth analysis that is not available on InsideFacebook.com, comprehensive quarterly business reviews detailing every aspect of Facebook’s business, and regular global trend and data insights to help you track change and opportunity around the world. We’ll be posting updates here as new reports are released to Inside Facebook Gold members.

>> Learn more about Inside Facebook Gold here.

Back in 2006, when we started InsideFacebook.com, no one could have expected Facebook to become what it has today.  With Inside Facebook Gold, we’re looking forward to bringing you data and analysis that will equip you to make critical decisions as the Facebook ecosystem continues to rapidly develop and grow in the years ahead.

Thanks To Our Sponsors

• Apr 2nd, 2010
Social Games

Inside Social Games extends a big thank you to our sponsors for supporting the continued growth of Inside Social Games. Check them out below!

SponsorPay is a virtual currency monetization platform focused on Europe.

sometrics-logo

Sometrics is a provider of virtual currency monetization solutions for social app and game developers.

Mobile First is a provider of mobile payment and mobile billing solutions.

Super Rewards is a monetization solution for applications and games running on social networks like Facebook.

surfpin-logo

Surfpin is a provider of mobile and landline payments for game and application developers.

socialgold-logo

Social Gold powers payments, subscriptions, and virtual economies for online games.

kontagent-logo

Kontagent is a developer of analytics solutions for social application developers.

Offerpal Media is a managed offer network for social applications and online merchants.

6waves is an international publisher and developer of gaming applications on the Facebook platform.

softlayer

SoftLayer provides managed hosting services for social application and game developers.

adparlor_logo

AdParlor is an advertising network designed specifically for social networking sites.

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco – Is Coming Soon

• Mar 25th, 2010
Advertising, Business, facebook, Metrics, Mobile, Payments, Social Games, VirtualGoods

April 20 | San Francisco

Inside Social Apps 2010, our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms, is now only a few weeks away. On April 20th in San Francisco, one day before Facebook’s official “f8″ event, many of the leading developers from around the world will be gathering to discuss the future of monetization inside social apps and games on Facebook and beyond.

The agenda for Inside Social Apps 2010 is now live online. Executives and experts from leading social game and app developers, payment services, advertising providers, and investors will be discussing the future of virtual goods monetization in social apps and games from a global perspective.The event will be held at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF, located at 1675 Owens St in San Francisco (map).

The full list of 34 speakers is below:

Finally, the last set of “early general admission” tickets is now available through Friday at a special price of $379. This price will change after Friday, and space is very limited and filling up fast, so we encourage you to register now.

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco

Three years after the Facebook Platform launched in 2007, what started out as sheep throwing and vampire biting has quickly become a profitable billion-dollar industry. Today, social games monetizing through virtual goods have quickly become one of the hottest sectors of technology and entertainment, both in the US and around the world. Where are social apps going, and who is leading the way?

Inside Network is proud to announce our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms: Inside Social Apps 2010, happening April 20th in San Francisco, is bringing together the world’s leading entrepreneurs all in one place to discuss the future of social applications and games monetizing through virtual goods.

This will be an in-depth one day event geared toward developers on Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone, senior executives, and investors. At Inside Social Apps 2010, founders and CEOs of the top social gaming, mobile social gaming, payments, and virtual goods infrastructure companies will be tackling the key issues facing the industry. We’re hosting it one day before Facebook’s “f8″ event in San Francisco, so this will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the key issues facing the future of the Facebook Platform and beyond before Facebook’s official event.

Register Now


The last set of “early general admission” tickets is available through Friday at a special price of $379. This price will change after Friday, and space will be very limited, so we encourage you to register early.

From all of us at Inside Network, we hope to see you on April 20th in San Francisco!

Most People Want to Play Games With Their Friends

• Mar 19th, 2010
Design, facebook, Social Games

As anyone who was at GDC last week could tell, “social gaming” was certainly one of the major themes that people were interested in talking about this year – much moreso than last year, when there was barely even a panel on it if I remember correctly. As social games continue to become more and more mainstream in the west, a lot of people are getting attracted to what appears to be the first mass market opportunity of this scale in a long time. Nevertheless, there also continue to be skeptics who see social games based on virtual goods as just a Flash in the pan. “They’re not even real games,” many people say. Is this kind of casual social gaming really here to stay?

Let’s step back and take an anecdotal look at human behavior in general. Have most people over the years (generally speaking) preferred to spend their time playing games with people they know or people they’ve just met? Although there are some important exceptions, most anecdotal evidence suggests that many more people would rather play games with friends and family than people they meet in a lobby, even if the “games” they’re playing are pretty basic, like cards or checkers.

On average days, most people who play games want to play with people they know – whether it be in the back yard growing up, in the nearby field with friends, or during game night at the house. These experiences are fun, not just because of the content of the game itself, but because of the context for social interaction with friends that they allow. Having a fun experience with friends is generally more important than in-game achievement.

So now, as what we today call “social games” proliferate across online social platforms, it should come as no surprise that millions of people are starting to play the types of games that allow casual, asynchronous interaction with friends that never played other types of online games with strangers. There are already 16 games on Facebook with more than 10 million monthly players, one (FarmVille) with over 80 million (I repeat, 80 million) monthly players – most of whom don’t identify as online gamers – and we’re still in the very early days.

Of course, there are some important exceptions to note. Some of these include:

  • In skill-based games, particularly in team or clan games, players who reach a certain level of proficiency generally want to find other players of a similar skill level, no matter if they are friends are not. We see this both in the physical world in sports leagues like soccer/football, and online in examples like Counter-Strike leagues. However, in general, people who continue to play skill games often tend to be the more skilled players, i.e. are generally viewed as “hardcore,” and not representative of the average person.
  • In MMORPGs, players often form strong ties with a particular group, and endeavor either individually or collectively as a guild to perform tasks that intrinsically lead to frequent interactions with strangers. (This is what the commenter “Brass Monkey” is referring to on Raph Koster’s blog post regarding this comment I made at GDC.) It’s certainly true that this is a fundamental dynamic of most MMOs, and many “social games” on Facebook at least partially share these characteristics. For example, you can interact with friends or strangers in games like YoVille.
  • In gambling games, people often like to play with strangers more than friends because of the intrinsic and potentially relationship-damaging conflict that can arise from taking your friends’ money. Just as many people gamble in casinos instead of with friends when playing for high stakes, most people also even play poker games on Facebook with strangers. (Poker games are also happen to be synchronous, making it harder to find friends who are online at the same time to play with, but I think that doesn’t affect this core social dynamic.)

As gaming technology has advanced over the last 20 years, social infrastructure has lagged behind. As a result, gaming culture has become branded in many traditional senses as “anti-social” (i.e. images of a teenager in a bedroom with a headset on at a computer or a child in front of a TV are common). Now that high-fidelity online social graphs exist (Facebook being the largest and primary case), online gaming is about to become much more socialized and “normal” as these games blend entertainment and authentic, asynchronous communication with “real-life” (i.e. not just in-game) friends.

Facebook is the best platform for this blending of entertainment and communication to happen on because it is built on trusted identity and meaningful real-life connections (at least for a very large portion of its users). That’s something that gaming portals just don’t have. Over time, Facebook and other social platforms will gradually take over more and more of the “casual” gaming market, though there will of course be opportunities for carve-outs in particular game genres just as there are carve-out opportunities in particular cultures and geographies in general. But on the whole, most people want to play games with their friends most of the time, just as much now as they always have.

[ image credit ]

Which Media Giant Will Pull the Social Gaming Acquisition Trigger First?

• Mar 15th, 2010
Business, monetization, Social Games, VirtualGoods

It wasn’t all that long ago that Facebook apps were thought of as another infinite repository of low value advertising inventory that would slowly erode to no one’s great concern. Now, 18 months later, just about every major media company is sniffing around the Facebook gaming leaderboards, evaluating how to get into the virtual goods-based games-as-a-service business.

For media companies interested in getting into the game, it’s not a matter of if, but rather a question of how. As execs and corp dev departments are working to fit together build vs. buy strategies, they’re also trying to figure out how to align all of the parts of the organization to move towards a structure necessary to run a social gaming operation.

Over the course of the last year, it’s become clear that many traditional media companies have gained increased regard for the role of social gaming in their future online monetization plans. Many of these companies have struggled to build significant revenue streams on the web, but now see virtual goods-based social games as one of their most promising opportunities.

As social gaming becomes increasingly mass-market in the US and throughout the west, the thesis basically goes that new IP can only take you so far; existing IP will become increasingly important in separating from the pack of developers vying for consumer attention. As a result, rights holders now want to find the top independent developers to pair with their IP portfolio.

For Facebook social gaming shops, that means good things.

“You would be surprised at the seniority of those with whom we have had regular conversations,” one social gaming executive said recently.

Indeed, we’ve been hearing continued rumors in recent months, the latest of which is News Corp’s interest in Playdom, one of the largest developers on the MySpace developer platform and an increasing presence on the Facebook Platform. Given Zynga’s size and Playfish’s recent acquisition by Electronic Arts, Playdom and fellow developer CrowdStar are two of the more likely acquisition candidates over the coming year. And Fox’s involvement would certainly make the dynamics between it and Facebook even more interesting.

Before Playfish was acquired by Electronic Arts last November, we heard that it had had discussions with multiple large media companies as well before the deal with EA was consummated. However, don’t be surprised to see more small shops being snapped up too, as several smaller developers are showing encouraging vital signs and may be more affordable options or better strategic fits than the bigger guys.

All in all, we expect to see more activity in the space over the coming year from the media companies. However, along with interest in social game developers from Chinese gaming giants, some are concerned that price expectations could be getting too high, slowing down potential deals.

We’ll be going in depth on the future of IP in social apps and games at our upcoming Inside Social Apps 2010, our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms, on April 20th in San Francisco. We hope to see you there.

For Inside Network’s in-depth research on the social gaming market, check out Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010

More Speakers, Venue Set for Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco

• Mar 11th, 2010
Business, facebook, Social Games, VirtualGoods

April 20 | San Francisco

Inside Social Apps 2010, our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms, is now only a few weeks away. On April 20th in San Francisco, one day before Facebook’s official “f8″ event, many of the leading developers from around the world will be gathering to discuss the future of monetization inside social apps and games on Facebook and beyond.

Today, we’re excited to announce that Inside Social Apps 2010 will be held at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF, located at 1675 Owens St in San Francisco (map).

In addition, today we’re excited to announce 7 new speakers for the event: Rick Thompson, co-founder of Playdom and active social gaming investor; Jens Begemann, CEO of Wooga; Alex Rampell, CEO of Trialpay; Steven Goh, CEO of mig33; Jim Bobowski, Director of Online Partner Marketing at Netflix (who manages Netflix’s social network offers); Eric Goldberg, Managing Director of Crossover Technologies; and Benjamin Joffe, Founder of +8*.

They will be joining our full list of 34 speakers listed below.

Finally, a limited set of “early general admission” tickets is now available through Friday at a special price of $329. This price will change after Friday, and space will be limited, so we encourage you to register now.

Inside Social Apps 2010 – April 20th in San Francisco

Three years after the Facebook Platform launched in 2007, what started out as sheep throwing and vampire biting has quickly become a profitable billion-dollar industry. Today, social games monetizing through virtual goods have quickly become one of the hottest sectors of technology and entertainment, both in the US and around the world. Where are social apps going, and who is leading the way?

Inside Network is proud to announce our first conference on the future of monetization on social platforms: Inside Social Apps 2010, happening April 20th in San Francisco, is bringing together the world’s leading entrepreneurs all in one place to discuss the future of social applications and games monetizing through virtual goods.

This will be an in-depth one day event geared toward developers on Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone, senior executives, and investors. At Inside Social Apps 2010, founders and CEOs of the top social gaming, mobile social gaming, payments, and virtual goods infrastructure companies will be tackling the key issues facing the industry. We’re hosting it one day before Facebook’s “f8″ event in San Francisco, so this will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the key issues facing the future of the Facebook Platform and beyond before Facebook’s official event.

Register Now


A limited set of “early general admission” tickets is available through Friday at a special price of $329. This price will change after Friday, and space will be very limited, so we encourage you to register early.

From all of us at Inside Network, we hope to see you on April 20th in San Francisco!

Slides from Presentation at GDC on the State of the Social Gaming Industry

• Mar 10th, 2010
Business, China, Connect, facebook, iphone, Social Games, VirtualGoods, zynga

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak on “The State of the Social Gaming Industry” at GDC in San Francisco. It was awesome to see the level of excitement in social gaming from developers and entrepreneurs across the gaming industry – much more than last year. Lots of people are now working on “social” projects, and larger players are preparing to throw a lot more weight in this direction over the coming year.

For those interested in checking out the slides, they are embedded below.

Topics covered: Social games, Virtual goods, Facebook, Zynga, Playfish, Playdom, PayPal, MySpace, Twitter, Social networks, Gaming portals, Payments, Monetization, Mobile, Offers

Thanks To Our Sponsors

• Mar 6th, 2010
Social Games

Inside Social Games extends a big thank you to our sponsors for supporting the continued growth of Inside Social Games. Check them out below!

6waves is an international publisher and developer of gaming applications on the Facebook platform.

SponsorPay is a virtual currency monetization platform focused on Europe.

sometrics-logo

Sometrics is a provider of virtual currency monetization solutions for social app and game developers.

Super Rewards is a monetization solution for applications and games running on social networks like Facebook.

surfpin-logo

Surfpin is a provider of mobile and landline payments for game and application developers.

socialgold-logo

Social Gold powers payments, subscriptions, and virtual economies for online games.

kontagent-logo

Kontagent is a developer of analytics solutions for social application developers.

Offerpal Media is a managed offer network for social applications and online merchants.

MTV Networks’ AddictingGames is a destination for online casual games.

softlayer

SoftLayer provides managed hosting services for social application and game developers.

adparlor_logo

AdParlor is an advertising network designed specifically for social networking sites.

Gate2Shop is a provider of global and localized payment solutions.

Inside Social Games Sponsors
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