Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- Facebook Launching Local Deals Subscription Service
- Eventbrite Reduces SXSW Overcrowding, Says Facebook Connect Doubled its Sales
- Announcing Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011
| Facebook Launching Local Deals Subscription Service Posted: 15 Mar 2011 06:49 PM PDT Facebook is showing a special story in the news feed urging users to subscribe to updates about its Deals location-based check-in rewards program, and to invite their friends to subscribe too. A link in the story leads to a new subscription page for Deals which says that subscribers will soon get news feed updates about nearby promotions.
This aggressive tactic should drastically increase awareness of Deals and produce many subscribers to the forthcoming updates, which in turn should lure more local businesses to offer discounts and free gifts to those who check-in via Facebook Places. The first cities to receive these updates will be San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, and Atlanta.
The news feed story, headlined “Deals on Facebook. Now Better With Friends” includes a “Tell Friends” link which launches a multi-friend selector for sending friends invites that generates notifications linking back to the new Deals subscription page.
Facebook has also launched a new information page for businesses interested in offering Deals, linked to from the subscription page. It cites help from Facebook marketing specialists, the site’s huge user base, the ability to build customer loyalty, and examples as reasons why Facebook Deals is valuable to businesses. Admins of Facebook can can fill out a web form so they can be contacted by Facebook to start offering Deals.
Deals launched in the US in November, and in Europe in January, but has yet to see widespread adoption by businesses. The Facebook.com/Deals URL previously linked to a locator where users could view a map and list of nearby Deals, but apparently Facebook wanted to move the service closer to the core user experience. By bringing Deals updates to stories on the home page’s news feed, which users frequently view and know how to share, Facebook may be able to generate such a swell of user demand for Deals that businesses feel compelled to offer them. While users already see when a friend redeems a Deal, subscribers will “get notified when Deals are available in [their] area and receive regular updates about new offers.” The Deals info page says these updates are “coming soon” and that additional cities will also be added soon. When users subscribe, they’re asked to confirm their location. Facebook allows any city to be entered, so those outside of the initial launch cities may start to receive updates if Deals Updates roll out to that location. Users also receive an email confirmation upon subscription, again asking them to invite friends.
The initial story urging users to invite friends appears to have been given extraordinarily high news feed prominence. This means millions will see it, potentially creating an enormous audience for these updates literally over night. Facebook rarely injects stories into the news feed, preferring to let users opt in to updates, even regarding things as important as AMBER Alerts about missing children. This example, along with its home page headline about voting in the last election, shows the power Facebook has to deliver a message to large portions of its user base. If Facebook abuses this power, it could lead users to return to the site less frequently because they feel that their news feed isn’t as fun or social. The use of a special news feed story to promote Deals Updates is a bold move on Facebook’s part. The site doesn’t make any money directly off of the free-to-offer Deals, though businesses may choose to buy Facebook ads pointing to them. The aggressive strategy may instead be designed to rapidly increase the Deals user base in order to steal users and businesses away from competing locations-based services including Foursquare and Gowalla who’ve been busy promoting on the ground at the South By Southwest conference. Facebook has finally shown its distribution might, demonstrating how the site can be used to quickly grow its own features, not just third-party apps and games. | ||
| Eventbrite Reduces SXSW Overcrowding, Says Facebook Connect Doubled its Sales Posted: 15 Mar 2011 03:57 PM PDT Eventbrite shared data at its South By Southwest Interactive panel on social commerce showing that when the site integrated Facebook Connect at the start of 2009, it hit its inflection point and doubled gross ticket sales that year. The data could inspire more ecommerce sites to consider significant Facebook integration.
The site has also become an even more crucial tool for organizers of SXSW events this year, since the conference reportedly grew 33% to 20,000 registered attendants from 15,000 in 2010. Eventbrite’s ability to cap or cease RSVPs while leaving an event’s page up helps party sponsors avoid negative sentiment by reducing overcrowding and the number of people they have to turn away at the door. Facebook Events, which experienced a surge of popularity at SXSW 2010, doesn’t offer this function, allowing thousands to RSVP to a party with a capacity of 300. This limits the feature’s value to organizers of popular or exclusive events. Facebook should consider adding RSVP cap or suspension functionality to expand the scope of the gatherings the feature can be used promote. Eventbrite has previously indicated that Facebook is its top source of referral traffic, but today co-founder Julia Hartz also noted that it ranks Google search at number two, Twitter at number three. and LinkedIn at five or six. Prior to the Facebook integration, Eventbrite’s referral sources in 2008 ranked:
The self-service event promotion and ticketing service website has deepened its Facebook integration since 2009, now allowing users to see events their Facebook friends are attending. The average Facebook share of one its events drives 11 clicks and $2.52 in sales, compared to $2.34 via email share, $0.90 via LinkedIn, and only $0.43 via Twitter. Last year it looked as if Facebook might partner with Eventbrite to let Facebook users earn affilate fees from ticket buyers who they referred. However, the system never went live and Hartz confirmed the sites have no official partnership at this time. Post-Purchase Shares and Music Generate More RevenueHartz explained that 40% of Facebook shares from the site occur pre-purchase, but that the 60% occurring post-purchase generate 20% more sales per share. This indicates that ecommerce sites should focus more on driving post-purchase shares. Another new data set Eventbrite revealed was the breakdown of average revenue generated per Facebook share of different event categories. Music events drove an enormous $12 per share, suggesting that musicians have a lot to gain from selling their own concert tickets via EventBrite, especially those with existing Facebook followings.
The rough breakdown of revenue per share by category is:
These figures could be slightly confounded by total number of events in each category and the quality of the event’s page. Still, they demonstrate serious revenue potential from promoting fundraising, food and wine, and social events through a combination of Eventbrite and Facebook. | ||
| Announcing Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011 Posted: 15 Mar 2011 08:00 AM PDT
Inside Network is proud to announce a new original research report by Justin Smith and Charles Hudson profiling social gaming developers outside the largest, most established companies, entitled Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011. This report presents direct interview results from today's most influential small and mid-sized developers aside from larger players Zynga, Playfish, Playdom, CrowdStar, and Kabam.
Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011 is available for discount pre-order now, and will be released to the public on March 29. What are top mid-sized developers' expectations for the social gaming space in 2011? How will existing players fare as Facebook shifts the social gaming landscape through the rollout of Facebook Credits and continued changes to the platform? Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011 shares insights directly from the front lines on social game monetization, development, and customer acquisition and growth. About the Report Inside Virtual Goods: Profiling the Social Gaming Middle Market 2011 shares insights from over two-dozen developers into key questions facing social gaming in 2011. As with previous editions of Inside Virtual Goods, researchers Justin Smith and Charles Hudson have conducted several months of original research comprising interviews with developers and entrepreneurs in social gaming. This edition of Inside Virtual Goods will present exclusive interview results from the developers themselves, preceded by original profiles of all companies included in the survey. Social gaming is among today's most competitive areas in technology; specific responses have been anonymized to encourage authentic, critical response. What We Cover
See the full table of contents below: Table of Contents
New Insights on the Competitive Landscape In 2010, social games began to show what kind of value can be created on top of social networks. 2011 will be an even more important year. The social gaming market is evolving rapidly against a backdrop of shifting challenges, and still-emerging opportunities — social gaming will be this year's industry to watch. If you're involved, or are considering jumping in, Inside Virtual Goods will be one of your most important tools. One year of original data and exclusive in-depth reports delivered on a quarterly basis is $2,495 and contains:
About the Authors Justin Smith Founder, Inside Network Justin Smith is the founder of Inside Network, the first company dedicated to providing news and market research to the Facebook platform and social gaming ecosystem. Justin leads Inside Network's Inside Virtual Goods and AppData research and data services, and serves as co-editor of Inside Facebook and Inside Social Games. Prior to Inside Network, he was formerly Head of Product at Watercooler, one of the leading application and game developers on the Facebook Platform. Prior to Watercooler, Justin was an early employee at Xfire, the largest social utility for gamers, which was sold to Viacom in 2006. Justin holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University. Former VP Business Development, Serious Business Charles Hudson is the former VP of Business Development for Serious Business, a leading social games developer on the Facebook platform. Prior to Serious Business, he was formerly the Sr. Director for Business Development at Gaia Interactive, a leading online hangout for teens. Prior to Gaia, Charles worked in New Business Development at Google and focused on new partnership opportunities for early-stage products in the advertising, mobile, and e-commerce markets. Prior to joining Google, he was a Product Manager for IronPort Systems, a leading provider of anti-spam hardware appliances that was acquired by Cisco Systems for $830 million in 2007. Charles holds an MBA and BA from Stanford University. Get The Annual Membership Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues):
OR Buy Single Report:
* Pre-order discount ends March 28, 2011. All pre-ordered reports will be delivered on March 29, 2011. Although the report will not be released until Tuesday, March 29, we are offering a special pre-order discount for those who purchase now. A one year subscription is $1,995 until March 28, at which point the price will go to US $2,495. The one year subscription includes three quarterly updates on key developments in the space. Or, you can download just this report. The pre-order price is $795 until March 28, at which point the price will go to US $995. |
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