Social Games - SocialTimes

Interview: 21-Year-Old App Developer Brian Wong Talks About Virtual and Real Achievements

Devon Glenn — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:31:49 +0000

Brian Wong never imagined he would become the world’s youngest venture-funded entrepreneur when he founded Kiip in 2010. Nineteen years old and newly laid off from Digg, Wong was in a plane when he noticed that the other passengers were happily playing games on their smartphones. Seeing a potentially “huge market for advertising” through games on mobile devices, Wong decided to create a rewards system for gamers. Eighteen months later, the mobile app dispenses 5 rewards every second from brands like Pepsi and Best Buy, and Wong is building a brand of his own.

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Myspace Settles With FTC | 55,000 Twitter Accounts Breached | Memes as Dissent in China

Tim Sohn — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:31:39 +0000

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Myspace Faces 20 Years of Government Scrutiny for Privacy Violations (Mashable) Myspace’s privacy practices will be kept under close watch by a third-party observer for two decades as part of a settlement related to an investigation of the company’s advertising sales strategy, the Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday. The agreement also prevents Myspace from making “future privacy misrepresentations” and requires it to make significant changes to its privacy policy. The New York Times The FTC asserted that from January 2009 through June 2010, and again from October 2010 through October 2011, Myspace transmitted information, including internal identification numbers of users, and their ages and genders, to outside ad networks that served ads to Myspace. Using that information, the FTC said, third parties could obtain the user’s name and other personal information and use a file placed on the user’s computer to view a history of websites the user had visited. AP The settlement is similar to deals the FTC struck previously with Facebook and Google. In March 2011, the FTC settled with Google over charges that it deceived users and violated its own privacy policy when it started a social-networking service called Buzz. In November, the agency reached a settlement with Facebook in which the company agreed to get explicit approval from its users before changing their privacy controls. CNET Myspace was sold by News Corp. to digital-media company Specific Media last June for a rumored $35 million. News Corp. had purchased the social networking site in 2005 for $580 million with the hopes of using it to drive traffic to Fox’s various media efforts. PC Magazine In a statement, Specific Media said it “thoroughly examine[d] the company’s business practices and, where applicable, make improvements” following last year’s purchase. “A major focus of this review was to ensure that Myspace delivered advertisements to consumers in a manner that safeguarded their privacy,” Specific Media continued. continued…

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Facebook IPO Nears | Tumblr Offers Advertising | Social Game Connecting Georgia Communities

Tim Sohn — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:50:33 +0000

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Source: Facebook’s IPO Show to Hit the Road May 7 (Reuters) The roadshow for Facebook’s initial public offering is scheduled to start on Monday, meaning the company’s shares should begin trading on May 18, a source familiar with the process said on Tuesday. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has mostly operated in the background during Facebook’s closely watched journey to public markets, will be involved in the roadshow, another source said. Mashable However, Zuckerberg will only be present for some of the roadshow, sources said. COO Sheryl Sandberg will handle the rest, along with CFO David Ebersman. San Francisco Chronicle Numerous details remain unknown, especially the range where the Menlo Park company expects to price its stock. MSN Money Some are beginning to question whether the social networking giant is worth the investment. Revenue growth is a major issue for investors, according to Boston University professor N. Venkat Venkatraman, chairman of the Information Systems Department of BU’s School of Management. “Other [investors] will focus on Facebook’s monetization machine and question if Facebook could create and maintain the growth in revenue and profits,” Venkatraman said in an email. continued…

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Pinterest Co-Founder Exits | Groupon’s Stock Drops | Tumblr’s Facebook Integration

Andrew Freedman — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:55:04 +0000

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Welcome to the Morning Social Media Newsfeed! Here, we’ll compile the latest news from the social media world along with news from our blog network. If you were previously signed up for our daily blog newsletter, you will automatically receive the Morning Social Media Newsfeed instead. If you haven’t signed up and would like to, just click the registration link above.

Pinterest Co-Founder, Paul Sciarra, Leaves for Andreessen Horowitz (Paul Sciarra /Pinterest Blog)
I’ve accepted a role as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz. I hope that eventually leads me back to doing what I’ve done for the past three and a half years — namely, building cool things with awesome people with unexpected results. Startup Grind Paul takes a significant amount of time in his post to clarify his role in building the company, perhaps to make sure it’s clear in the history books what he actually did to make Pinterest the huge success it is today. TechCrunch Andreessen Horowitz is one of the leaders among VCs building out the services that they offer to young companies beyond funding. The EIC role will see Sciarra potentially help Andreessen evaluate future investments, offer advice and assistance to its portfolio companies and perhaps even aid Andreessen Horowitz to be more disruptive in its own ventures. SocialTimes Co-founder Ben Silbermann recently gave an interview for a lengthy feature in Fortune magazine. He also sat down for a Q&A with investor and entrepreneur Chris Dixon at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, TX. Silbermann has been the sole window to the inner workings of a company that hasn’t done much self-promotion outside the Facebook Timeline. continued…

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ContraVille? Konami Signs Up to Make Games for Zynga.com

Neil Vidyarthi — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:00:10 +0000

There are no allegiances in gaming anymore. There was a time when developing games for the Nintendo Entertainment System meant that you were strongly pressured not to make games for other consoles. For me, I was on the Nintendo ship until they lost Square and Final Fantasy VII was produced for the Sony Playstation. Well, these days platform creators like Nintendo and Sony have new competition in the form of Zynga and OnLive, and Zynga just recently announced that Konami, one of the largest console game makers in the world, will be producing games for their new Zynga.com platform.

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Raptr Social Gaming Network Launches New Reputation System

Neil Vidyarthi — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:25:33 +0000

Raptr is an interesting beast. It’s been around for 5 years now and has always promised to integrate the social elements of games into one place. It sucks in your XBox Live, Playstation Network, Steam, Google, Facebook and Windows Live accounts into one seamless chat, and lets you assemble a meta-profile that you can share with friends. The feather in the cap, though, is that once you’ve done that, you can add video games to your profile and track achievements that you’ve gained in various games.

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Zynga Barely Beats Earnings Estimates; Not Enough Growth for Investors as Stock Drops

Neil Vidyarthi — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:27:27 +0000

Zynga’s stock is down over 10% today on yesterday’s earnings which revealed that Zynga had booked $306.5 million for their fourth quarter. That’s only a few million above estimates of $302.4 million, and apparently that crawling growth wasn’t enough for investors to stick around — Zynga is having a major sell off today and the stock (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has dropped 14% from yesterday’s close of 14.35 to a price of 12.36 as of this writing.

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Social Games and Gamification: What’s the Difference?

Neil Vidyarthi — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:37:16 +0000

This is a guest post by Keith Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of BigDoor

Often the terms “social games” and “gamification” are used interchangeably, but in actuality they’re very different animals. While it’s true that gamification borrows its game mechanics from social gaming, there are many real-world situations where it makes more sense to apply gamification instead of building an entire game. First, let’s take a look at a definition of each concept:

Social games are built on a social media platform like Facebook or Google+. Casual in nature, they can be picked up or dropped at a moment’s notice and are designed to engage the player’s social network of friends. Games like CityVille, Hidden Chronicles, and Words with Friends are popular examples.

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The Facebook Platform Roadmap in 2012

Devon Glenn — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:17:30 +0000

For Facebook, 2012 will be the year of the third party app. News, videos, and songs streaming down your newsfeed are just a “small taste of overall vision,” said Carl Sjogreen, director of product management for Facebook at the Inside Social Apps Conference. The focus for the coming year will be on enhancements to Open Graph, mobile and games.

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What Makes Social Gaming So Popular on Facebook and Google+? [Infographic]

Devon Glenn — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:19:50 +0000

Games and social media a natural match. With the exception of solitaire, most games involve at least two players. This infographic explores some of the ways that games have found an audience on social platforms like Facebook and Google+.

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Electronic Arts Beats Analyst Expectations With Help from Star Wars

Neil Vidyarthi — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:01:29 +0000

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) has an illustrious past. A great metaphor, considering EA’s own NBA series of games, is someone like Michael Jordan, who after taking some time off from being a champion with the Chicago Bulls, returned back to the game after an absence. But the game had changed. He played for the Washington Wizards, a new franchise team, had a rocky start, but once he’d got his footing, he surprised critics and naysayers by eventually leading the team in points. Is EA on the same path with their digital revolution?

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Will Facebook Gamers Want to Play World of Warcraft Instead of FarmVille? Gaikai Hopes So

Neil Vidyarthi — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:51:32 +0000

David Perry revealed today at the Cloud Gaming Europe conference that his streaming games company, Gaikai, has already finished a deal with Facebook and they’re ready to launch. To add some spice to the announcement, he displayed a demo of World of Warcraft running on Facebook within the Gaikai app, and pointed out that it only took a few clicks to get into the game. Will Gaikai win the attention of Facebook gamers?

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The Average Social Gamers Are 43-Year-Old Women [Infographic]

Megan O'Neill — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:11:14 +0000

Have you ever wondered who plays the most social games? A new infographic from Flowtown breaks it down. ‘Who Are Social Gamers?’ takes a look at everything from the gender, age, family situation, education, income, employment and more to find out who, exactly, social gamers are.
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Have You Tried the New RISK Facebook Game?

Neil Vidyarthi — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:30:58 +0000

I just got the news last night that EA had launched their newest social game, and it’s based on one of the most beloved strategy board games of all time: Risk. The game, entitled RISK: Factions, takes from a recent version of RISK launched on XBox and PSN and adds a few cool social features that make the game speedy and competitive. Our sister blog Inside Social Games had a great interview with the Producer of the game, and he talks about the sanctity of keeping a strong multiplayer element in the game.

Check out the interview here and let us know what you think of the game. Do you like the player-versus-player aspect or would your rather stick to co-opetition titles like The Sims Social?

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Is the PS Vita Really a Social Gaming Revolution?

Neil Vidyarthi — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:30:22 +0000

Have you been keeping up with the portable gaming wars? What once used to be the exclusive domain of Nintendo is now a rife battleground featuring the likes of Apple, Sony and even Google, and Sony’s latest offering, the PS Vita, is hoping to win some new fans in the space. In a recent trailer for the device, they hail the PS Vita as a social gaming revolution — but is it?

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