Summary
Zynga was the leader in the social game with the support of Facebook. The demographic representation of the social games extends to women and elderly. The lack of creativity of Zynga pushes the consumer away. This decline is also due to the fact Zynga had failed to change its strategy toward the mobile platform. Zynga relies its sales on virtual goods, which are very limited and difficult in the mobile environment. A lack of diversity to another social network and its subordination to Facebook was also an issue. Zynga’s relationship with Facebook, which imposes the use of Facebook credits on its application, causes the collapse of the organization. Moreover, Zynga was object of competition from different players
The strategy of Zynga is offer free games in order to sell virtual goods by exploiting the marketing possibilities of the games. In this perspective, Zynga uses Facebook as the social media platform to access data from different users.
Question 1
Despite its dependence on Facebook, Zynga would be a good marketing platform. First, Zynga has 300 million active users. Thus, Zynga controls large and diverse geographic and ethnic users that extend to women and elderly. The company has the ability to target and segment customers. For this reason, Zynga relies on data analytics to increase and retain online gamers. In consequences, marketers will profit the same data analytics to increase sales.
In contrast, players do not like ads, and advertisement will be an
However, John is missing a crucial aspect that businesses must add to obtain value from their customer basis, he must find a way to create an online relationship with his current and potential customers. Engagement is the key to trust, conversation and social media gives your business a voice. Social media is no longer a trend; it is a necessity for business. With a strong Social Media presence, 401 Games can effectively interact and share online with customers, which increases its brand visibility. 401 Games can also use its Social Media pages to obtain personal feedback from customers. Social Media is a dialogue where people with similar interests can interact and share things that they like and dislike about a product or the business. Consumers do not limit their online expressions and opinions to businesses with a Facebook page or a Twitter account. By not engaging in social media, 401 Games is ignoring these discussions and limiting their ability to participate, apologize or defend. Social media is the best way to find out what your customers are saying about your brand.
Fannect LLC is a company that develops, runs, and maintains an app known as Fannect. Fannect is an app designed to not only determine the fan base of a sports teams but also rank individual fans. It is, therefore, a unique platform that enables fans to partake in competitive sport events that are powered by social network that aim at measuring the fans enthusiasm, ardor and comprehension about the team. The company aims at creating such kind of a platform and endeavors to reward fans for their loyalty to their favorite teams (Fannect, 2012). Given the nature of the industry, sports, that the platforms targets and the current trends emerging in teams fan base constitutes its critical strengths. In particular, features of the app like gameface, score guessing and photo competition for best game day picture gives the app a competitive edge in the social network market (Fannect, 2012; Richter & Nadine, 2007). In terms of opportunities, Fannect have multiple sporting clubs and teams from various sporting activities to pocket as clients. However, the current pace of technological development will give room for proliferation of related apps that will pose threats to Fannect. In addition, some features of the app makes it vulnerable to stiff competition from other social networks(Richter & Nadine, 2007). In addition to the SWOT profile outlined, Fannect LLC is greatly vulnerable to macro-environment forces. The changes in social-cultural
| 1.6-Safety & Privacy issues: user accounts hacked and misused, users quit(9,10)1.7-Too dependent on Zynga: 12% revenue 2011 of games & virtual goods, a significant number of pages generated by Zynga applications(11,12)1.8-Shut down because of Islam cultural clashes, blocked because of conservative moral
Zynga had a $1.1 billion revenue in 2011, which accounted for 12% of Facebook’s profits for the year. They both use Ernst & Young (E&Y) as their accounting firm. With the law called Sarbanes-Oxley enacted, it was supposed to fix conflicts related to financial system controls & accounting policies. But this holds back the IPO Markets. So now because they can’t go audit their own work they audit themselves because for the life of the gamer in their business model, it is difficult to interpret when the company should report their earnings to the SEC. E&Y’s accounts never have to be disclosed before the companies they helped become public. The rules for which Zynga and Facebook were operating under were constantly changing as there was no specific rule for the type of accounting principles that they were operating under. So they set up a system that they could report the earnings on a product that was sold by them to the customer 15 months after the sale because they gauged that time to be the average player’s life span.
| 1.6-Safety & Privacy issues: user accounts hacked and misused, users quit(9,10)1.7-Too dependent on Zynga: 12% revenue 2011 of games & virtual goods, a significant number of pages generated by Zynga applications(11,12)1.8-Shut down because of Islam cultural clashes, blocked because of conservative moral
Foley would benefit the most from Zwinktopia by periodically changing the styles of apparel offered to its users. The risk here would be that of competitors offering similar experiences. Users could grow tired of their UnME jeans and wish to outfit their avatars in a competitor’s apparel offerings. With Facebook, she runs the risk of users simply “hiding” the UnME feed over time. Once hidden, the users must consciously decide to visit the company’s profile page. With YouTube, consumers are invited to submit their own videos to the site. This could produce a viral effect, yes, but it could also inhibit the younger audience she is trying to reach. Producing and uploading videos could be challenging for younger teenage girls.
First is the advertising. According to the case, we know that the major revenue of Facebook is advertising, which took up 98 percent in 2009, 95 percent in 2010 and 85 percent in 2011. Facebook uses all information uploaded by users to become the property of the firm. By analyzing database, Facebook provides advertisers target customized services and products based on users’ preferences and connections. In its view, the advertising which based on social
The lifestyle of a hardcore gamer is to be antisocial around human beings, but through the connectivity of the Internet to be social and build friendships and relationships through video games. Xbox has created a live chat while playing video games to verbally speak to the gamers or instantly chat. The social class gamer is divided by the income category that they fall on. Upper and middle class have the ability to spend money on new consoles in the gaming industry, while the lower class does not have the funds to invest in all of the new consoles that are released. The most important key point of the demographic component is the behavior of a gamer. It is important to have a strategic target plan for any new consoles; however, behavior gamers are the marketing targets to any new innovation. Behavior gamers are the most loyal consumers and it has a significant amount of the profitability to the company. As a result, the three different components makes up the target market and is very crucial to be strategic with the plan and know the potential
However, in opposition, social networking sites is based on sharing information and so, in the Internet economy and the exchange between users and websites would be beneficial to both ends. As the users’ valuable activities and information has become the base for
Revenue streams are diverse and continue to grow 2012 estimates are $4.51 billion. The company has several major corporate business partners and in 2012 launched its first IPO. which has shown a strong initial stock performance. Facebook is an early adapter of technology and was one of the first social networking sites to optimize its platform for mobile devices. Its technical platform allows for millions of applications, including Zynga.
Less dependency on complementors. As Facebook is the largest social media platform and part of the digital giants, it has hard power unlike most other firms, they can enter any industry with relative ease just because they have the resources available to do so. This is a treat to a multisided platform as the company is not reliant on complementors unless they have some data that is invaluable and unattainable by the giant (Facebook) itself.
Facebook organization has a horizontal structure, which give each individual to empower with their ideas. This structure is the best for Facebook since it is based on ideas and their job is to keep users attracted to their site day to day (theofficialboard.com, 02/1) . As a very popular social networking site Facebook constantly require them to come up ways they can attract their users. Facebook organization understood early on if they want to stay in business they must keep their clients attracted they why their horizontal structures help them to come with ideas to keep their clients happy. They introduced online games for free like “Farmville or Cityville” so users can entertain themselves while they are in social networking site. If Facebook had a vertical structure it might be difficult to comes with new ideas because then company will be running by set of rules and guidelines which have very less room for middle lever or frontline management to invent ideas. Facebook gave its employees freedom to invent ideas and when they present it top level management can take these and decide which one is the best one they can use for the site. Facebook organization is one of the best companies to work for because of the benefits it’s give to their employees and freedom to express ideas (The
Social networking is a way of connecting people in the virtual world. Social networking websites have exploded in recent years,
This gave Zagat a competitive edge compared to other firms operating. But, in the dot com bubble age, Zagat did not carry out their activities efficiently and effectively which affected the overall growth of the company, And due to their battle to find a business model that stayed true to the company origin, companies like yelp were able to successfully take over Zagat. In a market like the one in which Zagat operates, it is easy to enter and start a new business. It requires only a small start – up cost, effective and highly synchronized business model and there are no barriers to entry. This enabled a new company like Yelp to outperform Zagat and grow rapidly in a short period of time.
Zynga’s mission is to connect the world through games. Connecting with friends and making new friends through our games or services involves sharing information, (Zynga Team).