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Inside Facebook

Facebook obtains money transmitter licenses in 15 states

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 03:24 PM PST

Facebook holds money transmitter licenses in at least 15 states, according to an analysis by American Banker.

In it's filing for an initial public offering, Facebook said it applied for certain money transmitter licenses and planned to apply for more in the U.S. It did not state that it had already acquired any licenses, though some of its licenses had been issued as early as August 2011. This means the company is further along in its payments business than most people knew.

States require companies that accept and transmit currency to have money transmitter licenses, though laws vary across the nation. Generally, businesses that handle money orders, currency exchanges and stored value — funds that are kept, retrieved and transferred electronically — are regulated in this way. Companies like Amazon, Google and PayPal, for example, are licensed money transmitters.

According to online listings discovered by American Banker, Facebook has licenses in Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Washington. The company could have additional licenses that are not available online.

Facebook generated $557 million, or 15 percent of its revenue, last year from payments. Users can buy Facebook Credits to spend on virtual goods and digital media within apps. Game developers are required to use Credits for transactions, of which Facebook takes a 30 percent cut. Many expect the social network to push the use of Credits elsewhere on the platform, including third-party sites. As such, the company needs to ensure compliance with money services laws.

The company wrote in its S-1 filing:

Depending on how our Payments product evolves, we may be subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, including those governing money transmission, gift cards and other prepaid access instruments, electronic funds transfers, anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, gambling, banking and lending, and import and export restrictions. In some jurisdictions, the application or interpretation of these laws and regulations is not clear.

Whether Facebook has plans to turn Credits into a wider payment system or is simply being cautious is unknown, but the fact that the company already has licenses in at least 15 states means that it has made progress toward this effort.

Confirmed: Facebook to replace homepage ads with page post units

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:56 PM PST

Facebook plans to require its premium homepage ads to be in page post format, according to a document leaked to GigaOm. We've independently confirmed the news with someone briefed on the matter.

[Update 2/22/12 4:11 p.m. - A Facebook spokesperson tells us, "This a change that brands were informed of last month, in which Facebook's premium ad units that point onsite will now also be associated with a Page post on Facebook."]

The format change is not a major departure from what was previously available to advertisers working directly with Facebook, but it does show an emphasis on page content rather than traditional ad copy. However, the document suggests the company will concede to advertisers who want to run homepage units that look like page post ads without making posts to their fan page first.

Premium ads are homepage units that can only be bought by working directly with Facebook. These ads are meant for large brand building campaigns so they are sold on a cost per impression basis and give an advertiser 100 percent share of voice on the homepage, meaning no other ads run next to premium units. The ads are larger than those running elsewhere on the site, and they include more prominent social context — images and names of friends connected to the advertiser. This upcoming change is not likely to affect Marketplace ads (non-premium ads available from the self-serve platform and Ads API partners).

Premium page post ads became available in November 2011, but Facebook continued to offer its classic Like, event, poll and video ads. According to the document, the change will go into affect Feb. 29, the same day as the Facebook Marketing Conference in New York City. Here is a breakdown of which page post ads will replace the existing premium units:

The leaked document says ads that originate from page posts perform better than other types of ads:

  • 40 percent increase in engagement
  • 80 percent more likely to be remembered
  • 16 percent increase in fan rate

That's why it's interesting Facebook says its team will create ads that don't get organic distribution as page posts if desired. This allows advertisers to run messages that are only relevant to non-fans or a small subset of fans. It also allows for creative testing without spamming the wall. It seems in some of these instances advertisers could experiment with Marketplace ads before going ahead with homepage campaigns, but we assume Facebook wanted to be flexible and supportive of its high-paying advertisers.

These are the page post units that will replace the classic premium ads. Standard offsite ads will not change.

New this week on the Inside Network Job Board: SponsorPay, GREE, SocialPoint and more

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:00 PM PST

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms.

Here are this week's highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at SponsorPay, GREE International, Inc., Konami, Social Point, King.com, XMG Studio, Atari, TinyCo, Addmired, Stealth Mobile Startup, FashionPlaytes, Inc., PlayMesh, RealNetworks, Inc. and Mob Science.

Stealth Mobile Startup

Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Social Games, Inside Facebook and Inside Mobile Apps through regular posts and widgets on the sites. Your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today.

Yahoo, greeting cards, dating, Tetris, YouTube, Shufflr, more on this week’s top 15 growing Facebook apps by DAU

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 10:00 AM PST

Yahoo topped our list of growing Facebook applications by daily active users this week, although there were a significant number of greeting card applications, a pair of dating apps, a few games, a YouTube for pages app, photos and more.

The titles below grew between 240,000 and 9 million DAU, based on AppData, our data tracking service covering growth for apps on Facebook.

Top Gainers This Week

Name DAU Gain Gain,%
1.   Yahoo! 12,400,000 +9,000,000 + 265%
2.   schoolFeed 3,700,000 +1,800,000 + 95%
3.   Greeting Cards 1,100,000 +560,000 + 104%
4.   Greeting Cards 1,200,000 +550,000 + 85%
5.   Greetings 1,300,000 +520,000 + 67%
6.   Tetris Battle 4,100,000 +500,000 + 14%
7.   Angry Birds 480,000 +480,000 N/A
8.   Onedate 500,000 +450,000 + 900%
9.   我的王國(My Kingdom) 630,000 +370,000 + 142%
10.   YouTube for Pages 560,000 +320,000 + 133%
11.   Mis Fotos 600,000 +300,000 + 100%
12.   Shufflr 360,000 +290,000 + 414%
13.   Static HTML… [Third Tab] 530,000 +280,000 + 112%
14.   Cards 980,000 +260,000 + 36%
15.   Niik 310,000 +240,000 + 343%

Yahoo grew by 9 million DAU, far more than any other app on the list. Then there was a series of greeting card apps that ask users to select from a list of friends who have upcoming birthdays and send them greeting cards.

Dating apps, Onedate and Niik, require users to create accounts within Facebook to fully utilize the apps. A trio of games made the list: Tetris Battle, Angry Birds and 我的王國(My Kingdom).

YouTube for Pages is a tab app from Involver. Photo app Mis Fotos allows users to Like and comment upon their friends' photos in a consolidated interface. Shufflr is a video app.

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top emerging apps on Friday.

torsdag den 23. februar 2012 at 07.16