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(source: latimes.com)

According to this LA Times piece, Facebook is considering launching their own virtual currency.  I don’t think there is any doubt the pros of this product outweigh the cons. Chinese social networks, such as 51.com and Xiaonei, have already proven this to be a viable business model, albeit in China.

The social media world has continued to wonder what Facebook’s long-term revenue strategy will be. Will they ever be able to generate enough revenue to live up to the lofty valuations some have placed on them? Building a virtual economy could be the first step to actually reaching the revenue potential Facebook is capable of.

Whether or not Facebook actually completes this project is another debate. Facebook already abandoned their plans for a microtransaction system. Could this just be another undertaking that follows in those footsteps? It is possible, however, that Facebook abandoned the microtransaction system because they felt virtual currency is a more viable business model. I am leaning towards the latter.

Download our latest white paper and  read along as we explore a number of trends: the proliferation of casual, social and free-to-play games; the growing supply of virtual items within those games; the motivations of people who spend money on virtual items; and the rise of micro-transactions.

It offers an in-depth evaluation of the virtual goods market, and explores how publishers can make money using a virtual economy. It ends by diving deep into the latest form of monetization, advertiser-supported transactions – discussing how publishers can use incentives to drive user actions that lead to advertising revenue. The paper also describes Sometrics’ own Advertiser-Supported Transaction Platform.

Download Here

Wow, it is late (3am) and still so much work do to monetizing social apps, MMOs, and casual games.

In about 6 hours I’ll be giving a presentation at the Engage Expo in NY. My topic is the following:

Understanding Your Audience and Optimizing Revenue Streams

A key to increasing revenue potential is by understanding your audience and figuring out what payment and alternative payment methods fit to each unique experience. This session will help you uncover insights, like defining which goods or incentives to use, knowing where to place the call-to-action, understanding users in order to best direct payment and alternative payment methods, and how to optimize and continually test placements and payment providers against detailed user demographics - to know how and where offers are most effective and productive.

If you have any questions… shoot me an email at ian-at-sometrics-dot-com.

For those of you who wanted to attend Engage! Expo to listen to industry experts converse on engagement and virtual goods strategies, now is your opportunity as our guests. Sometrics has a few guest passes we are happy to extend to our friends - keep in mind this event is in NYC and goes from March 10-11th. If you are interested, please contact me at jennifer (at) sometrics (dot) com for information on attending!

Next week Sometrics will be heading to NYC for Engage! Expo, happening on March 10-11th. Anyone attending or in the area please feel free to reach out, as we would love to make some time to meet up. During the Virtual Goods and Gifts track on the first day of the event, our CEO Ian will be giving a lecture on the topic “Understanding Your Audience and Optimizing Revenue Streams”. I will also be making an appearance on a panel the second day about “Payment Systems that Power Social Monetization”. Both of these and the entire schedule can be found here.

For those who might want to attend but haven’t bothered getting a ticket, we have a discount code to help you save some $$. Register at www.engageexpo.com and use the code speakervip.