The F.A.C.E.B.O.O.K of FacebookInsightsName – Alok KejriwalCEO and Co-Founder, Games2win.comDate – 28th August 2009

Games2win25 million unique visitors (portal and network) – June comScore2009Portal is in the top 50 in the world ( Zapak below 200, Miniclip is no 3)Traffic from India – 5%, USA – 30%, EU – 30%, China – 15%Business model – make 1 new game a day at the lowest cost on the planet, make everyone in the world who has Internet play it and make money from their eyeballsVenture funded by Clearstone and SVB – 6 months away to breakeven

How we spell Facebook

F = Friends. Sure, we know you have friends, but we are interestedin your friends friends…We launched a game called SuperMom as a stand aloneapp extension of our game on FB (Click here to view)In less than 2months, we had traffic from over 120 countriesplaying the app, and interestingly a special and uniquegroups of young Muslim girls in Egypt, Syria,Jordan etc playing this game (Click here for Analysis)These are consumers we could not have befriendedGo beyond the obvious when it comes to friends

A = Audiences. Facebook owns audiences. PeriodcomScore SNS scorecard India WorldwideAs a developer, attracting audiences is a very tough job.Let FB tackle that - you should be really getting yourcontent rightAnother piece of friendly advise – stop bothering with otherSNS platforms for the moment. Concentrate on gettingthis one right

comScore SNS scorecard

C = Content. We believe that a Mafia Wars or a Texas Hold ‘Em Up comesafter years of patience, lots of luck and first mover advantage.There is a large upside in getting the long term content story right!If it costs much lesser in India to develop content,why not ‘spray and pray’?Our strategy is to launch 20 new apps each month! (Click here)And get each of them to contribute – if we have a big hit, even better

E = Excitement (not engagement). Its all about excitement – engagement is a by product.Your app needs to make consumers feel good –beginning with themselves and then taking it to friends.From our point of view, its variety that we offer asexcitement (like a TV channel that refreshes content)and this is what brings consumers back, wanting more..Call to Action should be customized not generic. For each of our games we provide a special reason for friends to share. (Click to view)

B = Bottom Line! Unless you are a hobbyist, the ultimate test of any app is:Cost of dev + hosting cost < RevenueFirst get your revenue plan sorted before you start developmentSimulate some revenue projectionsIdeas:Advertising Inventory (not so hot)Branded Apps – Indian clients love this (Apps on Orkut)Micro-payments

Cost of dev + hosting cost < Revenue

Advertising Inventory (not so hot)

Branded Apps – Indian clients love this (Apps on Orkut)

Micro-payments

O = Originality. Be original with your development. Who wants to play the48th version of scrabble?Don’t launch apps for the sake of it!(Lil) Green Patch, Scrabulous, Mindjolt – all have beenfirst movers in a genre they created and later dominatedShould the app be customized to FB? Yes to take advantage of the unique environmentNo if that’s not your core offering and just a brand extension

O = Outside works inside!Just creating an app and ‘hoping’ that it runs away is likehoping that one day Bangalore traffic will disappearFigure out how to ‘influence’ your app to start performingYou need to be a great marketer as much as a developer!!We created simple ‘call to action’ thrusters for our apps:Tell your friends you are playing (on site)All our games get stolen… Instead of fighting, we use that to our advantageInvizible strip for FB that becomes visible on the Pirate site(Click here to view)Making the app was just part 1 – work harder to get it noticed

Tell your friends you are playing (on site)

All our games get stolen… 

Instead of fighting, we use that to our advantage

Invizible strip for FB that becomes visible on the Pirate site(Click here to view)

K= Kismat, Kismet, Kissmet,Kissmat.. And whatever else you may call it!You may have the best app, the best tech, the besteverything and still not make itThere is no real science behind content and consumerentertainment content – it’s lots of luck, timing andsome great ideas coming togetherWith our costs and overheads, no place better thanIndia to try, try, try again till you come out on top!

Contact me!Alok@games2win.comOrMeet me on FB/Twitter/Linkedin