Graphing Social Networks 2008
Really interesting panel on social games:
Social Games for Social Platforms: Unleashing Viral Fun 
Jeremy Liew (Lightspeed Venture Patners), Mark Pincus (Zynga Game Networks), Shervin Pishevar (Social Gaming Network), Michael Lazerow (Buddy Media), John Hwang (Tripmonger)
- Games are Hit Driven
- Some games can be financially successful at 20k users
- In-game purchases
- Virality is not the only way to grow
- Look at SGN links
- Look at games
1:30pm Plenary
Room: San Diego Ballroom B
Designing Viral Apps: Engineering the Viral Loop Justin Smith (Product Manager, Watercooler), Andrew Chen (Futuristic Play), Blake Commagere (Mogad.com), David Gentzel (SocialMedia), Jia Shen (RockYou)
Room: San Diego Ballroom B
Designing Viral Apps: Engineering the Viral Loop Justin Smith (Product Manager, Watercooler), Andrew Chen (Futuristic Play), Blake Commagere (Mogad.com), David Gentzel (SocialMedia), Jia Shen (RockYou)
- Blake says that the Bebo port took him about 9 hours
- Again the emphasis on games, gradually revealed content, treadmills and carrots, reward schedules
- Leaderboards
- Andrew Chen - focus on retention *more* than virality
- “Feeling of progress”
San Diego Ballroom B
Eric Eldon (VentureBeat), Jeff Clavier (Softtech VC), Jason Beckerman (Teach The People, Dank Apps), Lee Lorenzen (Altura Ventures)
Congratulations, you’ve hit the jackpot. You’ve got millions of users, they’re coming back daily, and you’re making bank. Should you sell out? For how much and to whom? Or should you get funding? What will you have to give up? Read more.
- big opportunities…
- need to scale the business
- big opportunity is in pages per user and user retention