Category: Marketing Trends
Among the fastest growing companies durng this economy are social media app developers. The question is, will people playing Mob Wars on Facebook pay real money to get a virtual pistol or bag of cash, winning favors with the Godfather?
Facebook has grown to 200 and 250 million monthly users and earned $300 million during 2008. It has raised more the $400 million in funding and its largest investor is Microsoft at $240 million in 2007 for a 1.6% stake in the company.
Revenue streams come from advertisers. Developer revenues come from advertisers who pay them to create apps that will engage social media users with free games and utilities expressly to increase brand awareness.
One example cited by Money.CNN.com is Vancouver, WA based Papa Murphy’s. A Papa Murphy widget on Facebook gave free pizzas to anyone becoming a “fan” on the Papa Murphy Facebook page. Users clicked-thru using the widget to the Papa Murphy’s website to get their free pizza coupon.
