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Offerpal Teams with Tapjoy for iPhone App Monetization Posted: 29 Jun 2009 09:58 AM PDT What could make iPhone app development and monetization a more seamless operation? Combining the two to create a one-stop-chop-shop. Offerpal Media has partnered with Tapjoy to present such an offering. As part of Tapjoy’s Software Developer Kit for iPhone apps, developers can choose to optimize monetization options through Offerpal Media. It’s a package deal that covers some of the most important bases for iPhone app developers. For Tapjoy, the inclusion of Offerpal’s monetization platform means that the company can offer a range of new features for its own clients. This holds especially true as Tapjoy already benefited from creating package deals that encompass advertising and monetization options through companies such as Google. As a core focus for Tapjoy’s SDK is to enable developers to profit from their iPhone apps, broadening options towards this end is in the best interest of Tapjoy. Offerpal Media has extended its services to the iPhone earlier this year, and in an effort to make itself more accessible to a wide array of iPhone developers, Offerpal has teamed with an established SDK provider. A similar tactic was used by Offerpal in other areas of virtual goods monetization, as the company teamed with IMVU this year as well. This is the latest in a string of announcements from Offerpal Media, which has been aggressively seeking to grow its monetization platform. Likely due in part to its recent infusion of cash to the tune of $15 million, the virtual goods monetization strategy is becoming an attractive alternative for generating revenue. Offerpal is doing what it can to take advantage of this current trend, rolling out custom analytics features for clients and leveraging key partnerships such as the one with Tapjoy during a pivotal point in iPhone’s time line, given that the new OS 3.0 became available to consumers just this month.

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Motorola Karma is Socially Aware. Groovy. Posted: 25 Jun 2009 07:51 AM PDT AT&T’s 3G network is being used for yet another socially savvy mobile device; the upcoming Moterolla Karma QA1 is curvy, compact and socially aware. The phone will have quick access to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, JuiceCaster and more. From Motorola’s perspective, the idea of a mobile device is to support communication, no matter how it occurs. That’s a good point of view to have, considering the dominance of Apple’s iPhone, and the multimedia support mobile devices need for creating, sharing and consuming content. With what appears to be a main tab for social networking, a menu of socially integrated applications are ready and able to connect you with your web world. It’s a concept that hasn’t been lost in the past few years, only catalyzed thanks to leaps made by Apple and other companies such as Nokia. With furthered support frm the device makers themselves, it’s becoming infinitely easier for social networks to lobby for prominent placement on mobile devices. The same once rang true for computer desktops, where a pre-installed application could catapult a software company into fortune and fame. Over the past few years we’ve seen several steps taken on the sides of device makers, social network owners and mobile network providers to offer socially aware services that will ultimately benefit consumers. Just as important is the matter of Motorola’s platform, should the device creator decide to battle against the likes of Apple, Android and Nokia in this realm. Mobile platforms are gaining ground as a viable economy, stimulating growth for developers and advertisers in their rising ability to generate revenue. This is all quite reflective of a shift we’ve seen for pre-installed mobile apps, as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft battle it out for the placement of their own services to direct users to their own products accordingly, namely through search. With the push for socially aware apps to be pre-installed on mobile devices, we’re likely to see mobile search taking advantage of this shift as well.

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Digsby Upgrades Include Invisibility for Gtalk Posted: 24 Jun 2009 11:17 AM PDT Multiple chat client Digsby is undergoing a few changes, all of which are being revealed today. The desktop application that lets you login to several chat and social media services at once has seen a good amount of success since launching less than two years ago, but Digsby is now focused on gaining the top spot as a stable and functional instant messaging tool. In order to achieve this, Digsby has redone a great deal of its performance optimization, reducing overall CPU usage by nearly 50%. File transfers have also been improved for AIM, ICQ and MSN. Support has also been added for MySpace status updates, and for the invisible status on Gtalk. Other improvements for Digsby relate to the IM tool’s usability, adding a shortcut option for easily searching your buddy list or the web, and a new option for IM windows to be initiated in hidden status and blink the tray icon, instead of opening up an entirely new window. The infobox has also been updated so that its interface is the same as the IM window, making it faster and easier to navigate. The icing on the cake would have to be the four new emoticon packs Digsby has added, so your true personality can shine through. As an all-inclusive messaging tool, encompassing email, instant messaging, status updates across various social networks and more, Digsby has long been working towards becoming a centralizing tool for nearly everything you do to communicate with others online. In order to further establish itself as a strong front-runner, continued updates such as Facebook chat support and infrastructure support are quite necessary. For some, these current updates may not seem like a huge deal. For others, the simple ability to appear invisible on Gtalk while using Digsby may be the only selling point they need. But whatever the case may be, Digsby is one of the more usable and versatile desktop clients out there. Are you a Digsby user? Let us know what you think of the changes.

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• The “Secret” New Media School Project
• MySpace Layoffs Go International
• Super Rewards Monetizing Twitter-Exclusive Mafia Game

The “Secret” New Media School Project Posted: 23 Jun 2009 02:20 PM PDT If you happen to read my other site, AllFacebook.com, then you possibly read my article from earlier today about our new “Holy Grail Of Facebook Privacy” Guide. As part of the benefits I listed out access to a new site that I’ve been working on for the past six months: New Media School. I privately launched the site a few months back to see how it would work and get some people talking in the forums. The test went pretty well but my launch strategy was not as effective and ultimately not well thought out. I’ve gone through many revisions and still continue to but now that it’s public I can at least share what it is! The vision of New Media School is to “help individuals and businesses succeed in the digital economy”. Given my expertise with Facebook, I’ve started creating content for a program completely focused on the site but have many more programs planned. For now I’m taking it one step at a time because after spending two years as a hare, I’ve begun to see the value in becoming a tortoise. I have a number of speaking engagements lined up over the next few months which include seminars about leveraging social technology for brands. What’s most important is having a library of content to integrate into those presentations, which is why I wanted to launch New Media School. There’s a serious void in the market for educating companies and executives how to take advantage of these new technologies most effectively. I think the largest void is in education from true experts. While numerous companies offer education services, very few have taken the time to master the tools. Those that have mastered the tools are not willing to take the time to provide thorough education services. It’s the everlasting catch-22 of the world of education. It’s not to suggest that great services don’t exist already … they do! The demand is too large though and with technology evolving quicker than educational programs, we need solutions. I’m hoping that New Media School will serve as one of those solutions and over the coming months we’ll roll out new programs that I hope you can be part of! If you are interested in teaching your own course or want to partner in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

MySpace Layoffs Go International Posted: 23 Jun 2009 08:40 AM PDT Last week we received confirmation of the rumors surrounding the MySpace layoffs, with the social networking company trimming its staff by 30% and releasing statements regarding its plans to restructure and focus on innovative products for its future. Today MySpace offers up more details surrounding its intent to restructure, stating that its international operations will be cut back in some regards as well. MySpace will be refocusing its international operations around a smaller number of territories, with plans to “retain a robust global consumer presence,” according to the statement sent out by MySpace. While this plan is still subject to consultation with the international employees in various countries, MySpace is really looking to make a uniform move here across all the countries in which MySpace has a presence. Should everything go according to plan, MySpace will cut down its international staff from 450 employees to 150, closing at least 4 offices outside the U.S. London, Berlin and Sydney would become the promary hubs for the reorganized and tightened regions, through which the bulk of MySpace’s international activity would run. That leaves several other offices, from Canada to Argentina, Italy and India, in dire straights as they will be under review for restructuring. This is another major move for MySpace, as the social network has spent the past two years aggressively building up its international presence, seeking growth outside of the U.S. in order to maintain a high level of dominance in the social networking realm. One of MySpace’s core strategies in its global push was to set up sites as well as physical offices for a country-specific version of MySpace, tying in with local culture and events. Having to step back from its international push is indicative of the state of affairs over at MySpace, especially as other social networks such as Facebook are increasing their presence around the globe. As MySpace is still looking to grow in terms of its reach and user base, the whittled down staff will be left with an increase of work and a lot of pressure to revolutionize much of what MySpace has become. See here for more thoughts on MySpace’s future.

Super Rewards Monetizing Twitter-Exclusive Mafia Game Posted: 23 Jun 2009 05:00 AM PDT Super Rewards started as a project for monetizing Facebook applications, and the company is expanding outwards to now include Twitter. The virtual goods and currency platform that works for online games and social networks has created a way to generate revenue for games that have been designed to work exclusively with Twitter, including 140 Mafia. So how does it work? Users earn points redeemable within the game by recruiting new users via Twitter. It’s yet another exchange-based system that has proven successful, to certain degrees, on Facebook. In exchange for a user participating in certain offers and actions, they earn points and other benefits to be used in the game or social network. As Twitter continues to prove useful as a distribution platform, taking advantage of its cross-device access and usability, there are other “platforms” that are cropping up in order to build on that spreading reach. The game 140 Mafia already leverages the Twitter format, as it is a text-based game. Level up in the Mafia family in order to gain property, position and wealth. For the Mafia game and Super Rewards in particular, the model used for monetizing Twitter is one that is very similar to what has been readily proven within Facebook applications, by way of games and virtual environments. What remains to be proven, however, is whether or not this type of rewards application will work on a microblogging platform such as Twitter. On the one hand, recruitment is often considered spammy within a social networking environment and has been curtailed with various regulations. Spam on Twitter has already begun to run rampant, and any institutionalized application that monetizes itself via Twitter will need to be careful to avoid becoming perceived as spam. On the other hand, monetizing virtual goods is becoming a saturated market, and we’re seeing a good amount of the rewards-based monetization move into the mobile realm. This all becomes particularly noteworthy as news of Twitter’s possible revenue plans coming through branded microblogs for corporate organizations. It seems that there are several emerging ideas being implemented towards the monetization of Twitter.

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