Social games on Facebook can be a worthwhile opportunity for monetization, but also carry some risks. They allow people to play games together with friends on the social network. Companies can generate revenue through third party ads, branded sponsorships, or ad networks on Facebook. While some games see rapid growth and high user engagement translating to significant ad revenue, growth is not guaranteed and applications can be removed for spamming or other policy violations. Pitfalls include not maintaining a high quality experience and losing access to the Facebook platform.

1. Social Games on Facebook: Worth It?

2. Arseny Lebedev Large Animal Games, New York City

4. ENTRY

7. Facebook Demographics Source: Facebook Social Ads

8. Involvement Levels

9. Acquiring Users

10. Integration Points Source: Facebook Ecosystem , O’Reilly , March 2008

11. COMMITMENT

12. Evolution of Facebook Layout Before After

14. MONETIZATION

15. Business Models Third Party Ads Branded Sponsorship

16. Ad networks on Facebook

19. PITFALLS

20. Growth Average: 50 Average: 6,800 Source: Facebook Ecosystem , O’Reilly , March 2008 Application growth over 11 weeks

21. Growth 5%/day growth rate

23. Application Spam

24. When Facebook Gets Mad … Source: TechCrunch, July 7, 2008

25. A Gold Rush