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Facebook Advertising

I wrote up a post today for Om's site on the deal that is coming close to closing for international ads on Facebook - it's down to, obviously, Google and Microsoft.

I had a conversation with Om about it today and he urged me to consider Facebook as a specialized environment, like a game environment. It's a closed system - not exclusive, but with some gating; it's opt-in - people are there because they want to be there and they do invest some time and, sometimes, money there. And therefore it may not be the best place for traditional impressions-based advertising, which is also coming under fire recently as being too untrackable.

Om and I talked about how one would use the power of social connections to leverage advertising in a way that reinforces those bonds. I think Valleywag got it right when they said the deal is about more than money. It's about the future evolution of the internet and advertising. And as one smart commenter pointed out, "On Facebook people might be looking to buy iPod exactly because their friends have one."

What can games - particularly online games with friends lists, etc - learn from this?

Kane and Lynch and Babes

I just don't get what this has to do with the game. That's a very sloppy marketing job.

Less than Impressed with Google's Game Pitch

Kim Pallister took some notes at Casual Connect on the session led by Bernie Stolar featuring how Google Adsense can work with casual games.

Kim's first impression is, the audience expected something a little more... well, impressive, I guess! Integration with Google Earth! Search! I dunno, something more than Adsense...

His conclusions:

This from the company that only hires PHD's that know kung-fu and have x-ray vision? The fact that I work for MS isn't coloring my opinion here. I think this was an embarrassment to Google. Talk around the show seems to indicate that many share my opinion. The presentation was poor, the product was undefined and seems to be non-existant. Didn't help that one of the presenters sat down through the whole thing. "I'm really excited to be here" - yeah, right. How about standing up while you say that. The audience questions were mainly along the lines of trying to extract a little information about what exactly they might be doing. Answers were vague, and seemed to indicate that while they see an opportunity to take adsense to in-game ads, they've started to think about the sticky issues that come up when you try to do so, but haven't yet thought of answers to those questions. Oh, they did indicate web first (didn't say when), then download PC (didn't say when), then consoles (didn't say when but hinted that it's Sony that they are talking to).

Sounds like Google needs a little more help refining their conversations with casual games people. A potential consultant job for the right qualified person or persons?