游戏邦注：本文原作者为休闲及社交游戏开发商Arkadium公司总裁、联合创始人Jessica Rovello。

Facebook发展不到五年就创造了史上最强大的自由传播渠道，不少游戏开发商早已看出这一领域的发展潜力，所以争先涌入Facebook平台，其中有些捷足先登者在不到三年的时间中，就已摇身变为身价达数十亿美元的行业巨擘。

这一切听起来是那么美好，但开发商们很快就会意识到如果想在Facebook站稳脚跟，那就得适应这个平台不断变化的游戏规则。对他们来说，Facebook在2008年、2009年的游戏黄金时代已经一去不返了。游戏邦认为，现在这个平台的运营环境已经今非昔比，开发商的用户获取成本也在大幅上涨。

Jessica Rovello

开发商在该平台遭遇运营瓶颈的主要原因如下：

·2009年12月，Facebook限制了每名用户进行回复和通信的操作次数；

·2010年3月1日，Facebook取消了游戏通告功能，将其归入屏幕侧边栏的书签行列。

·2010年9月，Facebook将游戏通告彻底移出newsfeed，严格限制游戏通告的搜索和邀请功能。

Facebook的这一系列动作造成了什么影响？在2010年1月至9月份，该平台社交游戏的月活跃用户从2.45亿左右，下滑至2.25亿，在不到一年的时间中几乎流失了2000万的月活跃用户。

那么在这种情况下，社交游戏开发商究竟该如何突围，才能有力地推广游戏，获得更多的日活跃用户？游戏邦认为，Facebook并没有关上所有的大门，开发商仍然可以通过该平台最近推出的新功能，以免费或者低成本的代价，获取更多新用户。例如：

1.游戏“搜索”功能

Facebook在2010年9月推出了这项功能，如果一些用户好友开始玩某款游戏，该用户的newsfeed就会自动显示这款游戏的相关信息，这一功能目前仍在不断改进。这些“搜索”信息包括玩该游戏的好友姓名、头像、游戏名称、游戏简介等，同时还支持用户发表评论，亲自参与游戏等功能。

2.自助广告服务

Facebook提供了一项自助广告服务以及一个游戏类型选项列表，支持开发商锁定大量的Facebook用户（例如可设置美国用户、年龄、兴趣等关键词）投放广告。而像BrighterOption、Alchemy、AdParlor等提供的新型广告管理工具，则有助于快捷上传、编辑广告内容，并可利用广告日程安排、自动投标方案和追踪点击安装的转化率，有效增强广告效果。总之，打造一个成功的Facebook广告项目的要诀就是，优化、优化再优化。

adparlor

3.交叉推广工具条

最大限度地交叉推广游戏，对开发商来说也十分重要。如果你的现有用户和游戏数量都不是很充足，就可以考虑采用Applifier、Appstrip等第三方服务提供的工具条，它们可以将成百上千的开发商连为一体，面向将不同规模、类型的游戏玩家交叉推广游戏。一般来说，按流量付费，或者交换流量是开发商的普遍选择。

4.游戏邀请功能

Facebook游戏邀请功能可通过发送信息或者奖励因素，吸引用户好友去玩游戏。游戏邦了解到，已有一些开发商创造了令人难以抗拒、极富创意的“邀请”信息，突破了Facebook最近的种种限制条件，成功地虏获了无数新玩家。

5.赠送礼物功能

支持玩家向好友“赠送”礼物或者特殊道具，是开发商增加用户留存率，扩大用户规模的另一种途径。这种方法之所以灵验，原因在于它给予送礼人和收礼人一种礼尚往来的良好体验。如果有人向你发送了一份礼物，你不但会觉得必须收下，而且还会向对方回礼。

6“喜欢”功能（Like）

这项功能的强大之处体现在两个方面。首先，Facebook允许开发商将“喜欢”按钮添加到游戏中，开发商甚至还可以将游戏中的每件道具绑定“喜欢”功能。其次，你的游戏用户“喜欢”的东西越多（不管他们“喜欢”的是一条评论，还是一件道具，或者游戏本身），该游戏就越有可能在feed列表中处于顶端优势，也就越容易提高游戏的曝光率。

7.“好友团购”功能（Buy with Friends）

Facebook最近推出的新功能之一就是“好友团购”，它支持用户与好友分享在游戏中购买的商品信息。现在，用户可以将交易信息晒到自己的墙上，开发商则可向也购买同一款商品的用户好友提供优惠折扣。

总而言之，社交游戏开发商仍然有多种选择，可让自己的游戏在Facebook获得更好的传播效能。但必须记住，这一领域的竞争形势已更加严峻。比起以往的情形，现在的Facebook游戏开发商要获得成功，更需要重视两个因素：对Facebook游戏规则了如指掌，以及无穷无尽的创意。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

7 ways to help your games go viral on Facebook

Jessica Rovello is president and co-founder of casual and social game maker Arkadium.

In less than five years Facebook has created the most powerful free, viral distribution network in history. Game developers saw its potential early on and flocked to the platform. Some of Facebook’s earliest adopters have grown to billion dollar plus market caps in less than three years.

Sounds like Nirvana. But what developers have quickly come to realize is that when you play on Facebook’s platform you play by their rules. And their rules continue to evolve. Many of the viral channels that made Facebook such a goldmine for game marketers in 2008 and 2009 are no longer available, making it more difficult, and more expensive to acquire new users.

Specifically:

· In December 2009, Facebook limited the amount of responses and communications per user action.

· Three months later on March 1, 2010, Facebook did away with game notifications, relegating them to a new bookmarks bar on the side of the screen.

· On September 21, 2010, Facebook completely removed game notifications from its newsfeed, strictly limiting game notifications to discovery stories and invites.

The final result? Between January 2010 and September 2010, social games on Facebook went from reaching approximately 245 million monthly active users to approximately 225 million – a drop of nearly 20 million monthly active users in less than a year.

So what can social game developers do now to promote virality and drive higher daily active users? Facebook still provides some great ways to acquire new users for free or at a fraction of the cost of other online methods, for example:

1. Game “Discovery” Stories

Game discovery stories, posts that are automatically published to the Facebook newsfeed when a certain number of friends start playing a game, were introduced in September 2010 and continue to evolve. These stories now include the name and pictures of the people playing the game, the name of the game, a description of the game being played and the ability for friends to like, comment or play the game themselves.

2. Self-Service Ad Program

Facebook offers a self-service ad program and a games dashboard that allows developers to target a large population of Facebook users (i.e. U.S. users, any age, interests, etc.). New ad management tools, such as BrighterOption, Alchemy, AdParlor and more make it possible to bulk upload and easily edit ads, as well as take advantage of ad scheduling, automated bid strategies and conversion tracking from click to install. The key to developing a successful ad on Facebook is to optimize, optimize, optimize!

3. Cross Promotional Bars

Cross promoting your games whenever possible is also key. If your existing user and game base is not large enough, third-party tools such as Applifier and Appstrip bars make it easy by connecting thousands of developers with a network of users across games of various sizes and interests. Paid traffic and traffic exchange options are usually options with each vendor.

4. Game Invites

Facebook game invites can be used to allow people to introduce their friends to games with a message and/or incentive that compels them to play. Some developers have created compelling, creative “invites” that actually circumvent Facebook’s most recent wallpost restrictions, exposing their game to countless additional players.

5. Gifting

Giving your players the ability to “gift” in game bonuses and special items to their friends is another way to increase retention and drive new installs. Gifting works because it plays upon both the sender and receiver’s feelings of reciprocation. When someone gives you a gift, you not only feel compelled to use it, but to send one back.

6. “Likes”

“Likes” are powerful for games in two ways. First Facebook allows developers to add “like” buttons not only to their game, but to individual items within their game. Next, the more your audience “likes” anything associated with your game, whether it be a comment, an item or the game itself, the more likely it is for the game to surface on the feed, equaling more exposure to your brand.

7. Buy with Friends

A newly introduced Facebook feature is “Buy with Friends,” a viral way to share posts about purchases made within a game. Now transactional information can be posted to walls, and developers can offer incentives for a player’s friends to make the same purchase.

All in all there are still plenty of great opportunities for social game developers to achieve outstanding virality on Facebook. It’s important to remember, however, that the competitive landscape has grown astronomically over the years. Now more than ever, success is strongly dependent on two things: a comprehensive understanding of Facebook’s game regulations and a substantial dose of creativity.（source:venturebeat）