据insidefacebook报道，Facebook目前正测试一个名为“搜索新游戏”（Discover New Games）的工具条模块，该功能可以显示用户好友所玩的游戏。游戏邦认为，这种新型的搜索渠道可以适当降低因Facebook关闭一些病毒式传播渠道，而为游戏吸引新用户带来的消极影响，因此它可以相应地减少开发商为推广游戏而支付的市场营销成本。

Discover-New-Games-IF-Module

这个模块可以显示用户好友的姓名和头像，该好友所玩的游戏是用户尚未安装的内容。游戏名称、小图标，以及一个“现在开始玩”的链接会出现在该好友的头像下面。当用户看到这种含蓄的社交推荐内容时，他们可能会想该模块所展示的游戏一定有些娱乐价值，所以就有可能去点击并安装这款游戏。

游戏邦了解到，早在2008年Facebook就在右侧栏设置了一些模块，比如显示“你可能认识的人”这一模块，帮助用户寻找新朋友。最近，Facebook又添加了“你居住在哪个城市”模块，要求用户完善个人资料。除此之外，Facebook还在主页通过“推荐页面”模块，展示第三方提供的内容，现在游戏开发商也可以使用这些模块的功能。

Discover-New-Games-Sidebar-Module-Blurred

自从去年Facebook限制病毒式传播渠道以来，开发商就不断要求Facebook增加额外病毒式传播、沟通和搜索渠道以弥补这种不足。在Facebook采取限制措施之前，如果有一个玩家发布了赢得虚拟商品或成功晋级之类与游戏相关的消息，那么所有的好友都会知道这种情况，该游戏也会因此增加新客源。但在去年9月份，Facebook改变了news feed功能，仅允许也在玩同款游戏的用户好友收到相关消息，这样游戏只能在增加用户黏性上做文章，但却难以争取到新用户。

于是Facebook后来就调整了政策，在用户首次安装一款游戏时，支持他们“搜索”同时也在玩这款游戏的好友，目前该网站还针对采用了Facebook Credits作为唯一虚拟货币的开发商推出了Games Dashboard的游戏推荐功能。

尽管“搜索新游戏”并不能让游戏的用户增长率恢复到原来的水平，但至少可以增强开发商的其他病毒式传播及市场营销效能。这个新模块还可以向非游戏用户显示他们有哪些朋友是游戏玩家。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Facebook’s Discover New Games Module Shows Users What Their Friends Play

Facebook is a testing a “Discover New Games” sidebar module that shows several of a user’s friends who play a specific game. This new, free discovery channel could make up for some of the lost virality that resulted from Facebook closing several viral channels this year. Therefore, it could potentially help to slightly reduce the reliance of developers on marketing spend to grow their games.

The module displays the names and faces of the viewer’s friends who play a game the viewer has yet to install. The name of the game, its thumbnail icon, and a “Play Now” link appear below the facepile. When users see this implicit social recommendation by friends, they assume their must be some entertainment value in the displayed game, and may choose to click and install it.

Modules have been displayed in Facebook’s right sidebar since as early as 2008, showing “People You May Know” to help users find new friends. Recently, the site began urging users to complete the demographic information in their profile with a “Which city do you live in?” module. Facebook has shown third-party content in the form of official Pages via the the “Recommended Pages” module, but now game developers can also benefit from the modules.

Developers have been requesting additional viral, communication, and discovery channels from Facebook since it has taken other steps to limit the organic viral growth of applications over the last year. Previously when a gamer published a story about an in-game occurence, such as winning a virtual good or leveling up, it could be seen by all their friends, generating fresh leads to the game.

But in September Facebook changed the news feed to only show these stories to a user’s friends who already play that game, limiting their worth to re-engaging users, not scoring new ones.

Facebook has since began publishing “Discovery” news feed stories when a user first installs a game, and now offers featured placement in the Games Dashboard as an incentive to developers who use Facebook Credits as their exclusive payment platform. Discover New Games won’t fully restore organic growth rates, but will augment other viral and marketing efforts of developers. The module will also reveal to non-gamers that more of their friends are gamers than they might have thought, legitimizing game play.（source:insidefacebook）