Social Gaming: Farmville Takes Over

Wonder why you get several wall posts about your friends finding lost cows and growing corn?

It's the phenomena of social game. Online games that allow you to interact with others.

Social games are web-based games played on social networking websites. Here are some statistics about social gamers:

• 65% of social gamers are women
• 64% of social gamers play everyday
• Facebook is the most popular social network to play social games
• 62% of social gamers play with real friends, 56% play with friends they have made online, 37% play with strangers
• Want to know more?

Zynga, Playfish, and Playdom are the biggest social gaming networking sites. Zynga created Farmville and Mafia Wars played on Facebook. Farmville has 61 million users, making it the most used social game available today.

And these games are only growing more popular. Today was the Social Gaming Summit of 2010, where panelists had the opportunity to talk about the future and growth of social gaming. Rick Thompson, co-founder of Playdom, predicted that 90% of internet users will be social gaming in the near future.

To play social games today, check out the Social Gaming Network.

To hear more of my thoughts on other blogs...

http://mashable.com/2010/02/17/social-gaming-survey/

http://blog.sgn.com/?p=37&cpage=1#comment-66

Foursquare

Remember when Twitter seem like a fad? Now everyone has a Twitter account. Foursquare is the next Twitter.

Foursquare is a location based social networking service allowing users to "check-in" to specific locations using their smartphones. Foursquare is a game; you earn points for "checking-in" and the person with the most points at a specific location becomes the mayor of that spot. However simple it sounds, Foursquare is quickly rising in popularity and provides users a new way to enhance their social network.

Foursquare also provides businesses the advantage of free advertising. Restaurants are now giving away promotions every time someone "checks-in".

Check it out! Foursquare

Link To Me, I Need a Job

There a dozens of different ways to use LinkedIn, from improving connect-ability to increasing the relevancy of your job search. Just look at Guy Kawasaki or The Mashable Social Media Guide or even the LinkedIn Learning Center.

If you don't have a LinkedIn account already, get one. This social media is specifically to help build people's career. It's like a resume online for everyone to see. By connecting with people (friends, students, colleagues, prospective employers, groups, etc...) you have more of an opportunity to network for future job.

Link to me!