Today Tapjoy has hit a major landmark of attaining over 10,000 apps in its network through its latest partnerships with OMGPOP and Moblyng among others. This milestone is significant because it shows that there are at least that many freemium based apps utilizing virtual currency to monetize their apps.
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. 
Would you watch a video to get some virtual currency in your favorite social game? Jun Group, a New York social video advertising business, is betting that you would. I had the chance to sit down with Corey Weiner, the Chief Product Officer for Jun Group, to discuss how two of the web’s fastest emerging trends can work together to help gamers, advertisers and platforms alike.
Zynga is an interesting developer. I have always believed, as well as other critics of Zynga, that their games do not have any challenge to them. RewardVille is another new introduction into their suite of services, but I don’t know if it’s really any fun.
International virtual currency monetization firm SupersonicAds has launched a solution for their publishers called BrandConnectâ„¢ that lets them monetize their content using Cost-Per-Engagement campaigns.
Ubisoft, a video game developer and publisher, claims that digital content — products that are available digitally — is costing the company money. CEO, Yves Guillemot, spoke very highly regarding the future of digital content in the gaming industry, but also claimed that digital content is placing a burden on the company. Guillemot clarified that just because a game is popular, does not mean the game is profitable – a lesson to be learned by smaller developers.
After watching Super Bowl commercials, did you rank them the same as Hulu? If not, maybe you’ll laugh out loud reading CJ Arlotta’s Ravenwood Fair Brings Some Humor to the Wild-Forest Town-Fair-Bulding Genre article or join Bilal Hammed as he discusses why Social Media Has Become Cuba’s Worst Nightmare. Either way, take a look at our headlines for the week!
If any of you would like to contribute to my selection each week, drop me an e-mail at cjarlotta”at”socialtimes.com for your suggestion.
Creativity, a gaming development trait, can sometimes be missing in action. If you are a writer, you understand how to deal with your writer’s block; run through some quick writing exercises and you are on your way. A gaming developer must go through similar ways to jump over the hurdles to finish the race strong. Google Trends can be a helpful tool to when you are down on your luck.
Take a look at the time at the bottom of your screen; it’s almost five o’clock, which means your weekend is near. For now though, take a look at our weekly headlines below. After a crazy football weekend, I decided to select Anthony Marcusa as our writer of the week for How Twitter Slowly Destroyed Cutler. The title itself gave me a good laugh and the article continued to keep my interest.
So you want a career in social media, huh? As you all know, SocialTimes has a job board available to its readers. Some of these positions are in need of part time workers, while the rest are looking for full time help. Before applying for any type of employment, it is a good idea to understand who the company is and what they are about. Not only is this a great opportunity to show your prospective employer that you are well versed in their business, but it also serves as a purpose for your own personal benefit to make you aware of what you may be getting yourself into. Every few weeks or so, I will look into the various companies on our job board to help support your search.
Facebook confirmed Monday that it will be making it’s own virtual currency the mandatory payment method for virtual goods sold on its network. That means any company developing apps for use on Facebook will only be able to use Facebook Credits to conduct in-app purchases.
Starting in July, all Facebook app makers will be required to switch over to Facebook Credits, a move that has faced some resistance.
Back in May, Facebook faced off with social game developer Zynga over its in-game purchasing system, with Zynga, makers of the hugely popular Mafiawars and Farmville, threatening to walk. The standoff eventually ended with a 5-year agreement to promote Facebook Credits.
Facebook will take a 30% of all Facebook Credit transactions, although it’s likely that Zynga got a discount as part of its deal.
The switchover has been in beta for some time, with 150 developers using them in 350 applications. About 70% of all virtual goods transactions on Facebook currently use Credits, according to a company spokesperson.
Games are currently using Facebook Credits in two ways: to purchase the company’s own in-game currency, or as the currency itself. However the ultimate goal is to eliminate third party currencies altogether, and Facebook is offering developers incentives such as higher visibility on the Facebook apps page.
