Comments for Customer Ecosystem

Comment on Why Zynga couldn’t go public soon enough – Customer Ecosystem Weakness by Amina

Amina — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:31:03 +0000

AJ,The issue for Zynga is that “virtually all” revenue comes from Facebook (from their S-1). To be a stasainuble, long term business, Zynga will need to have a diversified stream of revenues that are not tied to a single source. I think it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to find a publically traded company with a market cap over $20B that has 98%+ of their revenue coming through a single supplier. It is unheard of. So while this does not pose a threat to Facebook in the short term, it is vitally important to Zynga in the medium to long term. At the end of the day, content is King and we will see game providers like Zynga win. With Facebook’s move to their native app on iOS, they are delegating Apple to a hardware provider (e.g., Acer, NVIDIA) and providing the social plumbing. This will eventually work across the Android and iOS environments.Zynga will take that a step further and become fully platform agnostic. They will develop their games for Facebook, Android, and iOS using both native and universal apps. As other platforms develop, they will spread their games into those areas as well. Their players will associate not with the device they play on (iPad3 versus Xoom2), but what game they are playing.Apple, Motorola, Samsung will all provide the hardware. Facebook/OpenFeint/WhoEverIsNext will provide the social plumbing. Zynga will sit on top of it all.Love to hear your thoughts.

Comment on Is Google Instant trying to trick people into clicking on ads? by Tom Foremski

Tom Foremski — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:06:55 +0000

You are right, the sponsored ads look like organic results…
2 points:
- tricking people into clicking on ads might backfire because conversions will decrease.
- Ads become easier than SEO. Which means deep pockets trump spr smaller competitors…

It’s downright evil…

Comment on Is Google Instant trying to trick people into clicking on ads? by Codeforest

Codeforest — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:57:08 +0000

Nice point there, people will surely click ads by mistake

Comment on Why Zynga couldn’t go public soon enough – Customer Ecosystem Weakness by technologiez

technologiez — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:20:56 +0000

When are they going to put out more applications so people other than those with the iphone can use the features on farmville/facebook?

I wouldn’t mind paying a fee…it will weed out those not interested in it and never play their farm again after their first visit. I am sure that this has clogged up a lot of space on the servers.

Comment on Why Twitter shouldn’t pursue an advertising business model by The Reason Twitter Bought Tweetie: User Experience « Customer Ecosystem

The Reason Twitter Bought Tweetie: User Experience « Customer Ecosystem — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:50:43 +0000

[...] a customer ecosystem under control, the next step will be how to monetize it. I’ve already posited on why I think advertising is the wrong path for Twitter, but I see little downside for closely [...]

Comment on Why Facebook wants you to have more friends by “Public” should not be the default

“Public” should not be the default — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:35:04 +0000

[...] Facebook is making a lot of cash (around 550 million a year) with ad-revenue, however, this might change in the near future and is probably the reason why Facebook wants you to have more friends. [...]

Comment on Why Facebook wants you to have more friends by Dave McClure

Dave McClure — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:59:51 +0000

absolutely on target.

altho user growth is phenomenal, that also creates the “newbie” problem (small # of friends at first, limited motivation to engage frequently).

by juicing the engagement & retention with incentives to add more friends they are reducing the time it takes for newbie Facebook users to get into a habit of regular use, and thereby increasing ad revenue.

in contrast, LinkedIn never really figured this out and altho they’ve improved have nowhere near the frequency of use and a rather sparse average connection per user.

excellent post & analysis.

Comment on Why Facebook wants you to have more friends by Suzanne

Suzanne — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:20:13 +0000

I turned off all the apps and games about 2 months after I got into FB. They’re not engaging. And as a rule, I ignore the adverts suggesting I engage with people. They have no real social value. I know friend x didn’t send it. What I find value in, is not how FB generates revenue,staying connected with people I already know.

Comment on Why Facebook wants you to have more friends by Joel Andren

Joel Andren — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:04:37 +0000

Good point on the stalking. I ran into a friend last week and she told me that she enjoyed my fb status updates… I told her that I never saw anything from her and she admitted to being a lurker.

So, I guess the question there is… is stalking a sign of less user engagement or just another segment of users? I can imagine a community of talkers also supporting a community of lurkers, but my sense is that this is not ultimately the path to sustainable growth.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook is very aware of these lurkers and is trying to draw them into the conversation.

Comment on Why Facebook wants you to have more friends by Ellie

Ellie — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:35:57 +0000

Engagment is a big deal and hard to measure. It’s the pink elephant of social media. As we as individuals and as advertisers, particularly brands, get excited about social media and jump in with both feet we’re not really able to decide what impact it is really having.

For sure Facebook has an up-hill climb to deal with to go IPO and will do whatever it takes. So I think pushing us to make more “friends” is one way to do that for sure.

Incidently, I have noticed a drop off in activity among my friends. However, I do think people are just doing more stalking and less talking.