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Capital One Opens CityVille Branch
Capital One has integrated itself into three of Zynga’s most popular games, using recognizable elements from its TV commercials to deliver unique freebies and rewards that enhance the game for anyone who engages with them. One of the more innovative features is in "CityVille," where players can place a Capital One branded bank in their personal metropolis. Both companies said this opportunity was the first brand integration of its kind.
Study: Facebook Apps Create 182,000 U.S. Jobs
College Park, Md. - Despite a bleak overall U.S. jobs outlook, a new study by the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business finds that a new industry focused around the creation of Facebook apps has added at least 182,000 new jobs and contributed more than $12.2 billion in wages and benefits to the U.S. economy this year.
Raptr Analyzes 10 Million Gamers' Behavior
As the media coverage swarms around Facebook, Google+, Weibo, Renren, LinkedIn and others, targeted services like Raptr are connecting targeted people rather than the masses. That’s how the social network for gamers recently managed to reach the milestone of 10 million registered users, up from 6 million in February, with over 1 million of them active on a daily basis.
Club Penguin's Puffles Rocket to Mobile
Members of Club Penguin love their Puffles so much that that they blast them out of cannons. Now Disney Online Studios has made that activity into the virtual world’s first iOS game, Puffle Launch. This is Disney, so not even virtual critters get hurt. Puffles are the penguins’ pets, round fluff-balls that come in many different colors, and they seem to enjoy rocketing out of cannons and collecting Puffle O's.
BringIt Lets Players Wager on Facebook Games
It takes in-game currency to do well in many Facebook games. For those who have had enough of things like searching for berries or answering surveys, but who don’t want to get out a credit card, BringIt has comes up with a different way to get coinage: betting on head-to-head challenges. Among the companies signed up to use this feature of BringIt’s real-time transactional platform are CrowdStar, East Side Games, Sometrics and Mall World, with a combined reach of over 2.1 million daily active users.
Rhapsody Realizes It Has Friends
Digital music service pioneer Rhapsody has been rather quiet of late, especially compared to the relative newcomers’ current jostling for position, and today it revealed what it’s been working on since being spun off from RealNetworks. Having switched its operations from web-based over to a dedicated online platform earlier this year, Rhapsody has now opened up a wealth of social engagement and sharing options that should help attract notice to a service that reports having more than 800,000 subscribers who pay for Rhapsody every month in actual cash money.
Kabam's New CFO to Guide Expansion
Hardcore social game company Kabam has brought Steve Klei on board as chief financial officer. Klei formerly held that position at Jigsaw, where he led its acquisition by Salesforce.com for $175 million, so he's got the experience necessary to help Kabam handle the $85 million in funding the company received in May.
Motorola Invests in Ooyala's Flexible Video Monetization
Ooyala Inc. confirmed an influx of funds from Motorola Mobility Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Motorola Mobility Inc., mere days after the online video technology and services company’s launch of Social TV for Facebook. The amount was unspecified, but the companies now characterize themselves as strategically aligned.
Can Dr. Dani Santino Help? Ask Her, Live Tonight
USA Network will use tonight’s season finale of 'Necessary Roughness' to go live with an expansion of its Character Chatter platform that includes integration with Facebook. During the episode, fans will be able to chat live with star Callie Thorne (who plays Dr. Dani Santino, pictured), interact with other viewers, and follow a feed created by script writers and other cast members.
Expensive and Odd Social Network Goes Live
Social networks bring together people who have something in common, but one that recently launched only connects its members after looking deep inside each of them. Literally. The non-profit MyMicrobes makes it possible for people dealing with stomach or intestinal issues to anonymously share information, diet tips, and experiences, after they pay about $2,100 toward the cost of the medical tests.
