I read a fascinating piece in today's FT which brought my attention to the fact that Facebook is becoming the world's biggest gaming platform with nearly 200m active members.
Having spent a considerable amount of time a few years back working with the Isle of Man's Gambling Supervision Commission on its gaming regulations communications strategy, it's interesting to learn that Facebook's most popular application installed by users is a Texas Hold'em Poker (played by 11m people):
The whole area of what is being called 'social gaming' is definitely on the radar of a lot of the big online media companies like Google and Yahoo as well as Microsoft (primarily on its Xbox Live platform).
I was lucky enough to be invited to the Social Gaming Summit 2008 in San Francisco last June but unfortunately was unable to attend. At the event, the Great and the Good from the world of social gaming bumped heads to discuss the lucrative market which social networks have prized open in recent years.
Whilst online gaming on services such as Microsoft's Xbox Live, which has 17 million members worldwide, or PC casual gaming destinations such as Pogo or Big Fish generally takes place between strangers, Facebook gaming encourages competing against people within your own social network.
The real emotional driver of social gaming is the fact that you can play against your mates and compare hi-scores within contained networks like Facebook.
Online poker rooms the likes of Doylesroom.com are hoping to capitalize on this craze. The sentiment within these money-exchange gaming sites is that people will be drawn into the higher end of the gambling spectrum which is where real cash enters the equation.
Facebook is not yet charging developers for games, mainly because they are initially free and the service is focused on expanding its user base. A shrewd move...
Now I'm not a particularly big gamer, but I have to admit I'm intrigued at the future development of social gaming - potentially as an emerging revenue source for cash-strapped social networks.
Watch this space...
