随着Facebook等社交网络服务越来越为人们所熟悉，Twitter韩国分公司决定进军这一逐步发展的新兴市场。

社交游戏作为社交网络服务领域中最有发展前景的部分，是一种社交网站上用于亲朋好友之间休闲娱乐的网页游戏。

与他们复杂的名字不同，大部分的社交游戏都很简单。像“World of WarCraft”管理一个大型的多人网络角色扮演游戏需要花费大量的精力，而社交游戏则与此不同，它更着力于加强玩家与朋友之间的联系。

social-game

据伦敦的市场调研公司Screen Digest的调查显示，去年6亿3千9百万美元的世界社交游戏市场有望在2011年达到10亿美元，而2014有望增值至15亿美元。

目前，有部分社交游戏已经取得了良好的效益，如“FarmVille”。这是一款发展迅速的Facebook游戏，玩家在游戏中可以管理自己的虚拟牧场，并和朋友做交易。据游戏开发者Zynga所说，每天有将近3100万人次玩这款游戏。

最近，许多韩国的游戏巨头如Hangames和Nexon都发布了自己的社交游戏。甚至于安全软件的供应商AhnLab也加入了这场战斗，成立了Hedgehogs Plus以开发社交游戏。

Daum和Sk Communications等运作大型博客的门户网站公司也想分一杯羹。Sk在去年9月发布了韩国首款社交网页游戏。在过去短短的11个月时间里，这款游戏便收入了14亿韩元（折合120万美元）。该公司开放平台商业部门的负责人Kim Yeong-eul说，该网站目前提供108款游戏，并拥有300万万户。下个月，韩国主要的门户网站运营公司，NHN也即将发布一款社交游戏服务。

社交网站的兴起带领了另一种新兴的商业模式——“社交贸易”。玩家们可以和朋友以低廉的价格拼购物。Ticket Monster就是一个成功的例子。他们以折扣价销售各种主题公园、按摩中心、套装旅游的门票。

Daoneday公司表示，韩国将在目前21个社交商业网站的基础上新增15个。业内观察家们表示，单单上个月便已有几家网站投入使用。(译者：dora)

The booming popularity of social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter in Korea has given rise to a host of new businesses that hope to take advantage of this growing market.

One of the most promising sectors: social games.

The term refers to games people can play online with friends they already connect with on social networking sites.

Most of them are relatively simple compared to complex titles such as “World of WarCraft,” a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that requires a fair amount of savviness to master.

But they excel in other areas, allowing users to strengthen ties with large numbers of friends.

According to the London-based market research firm Screen Digest, the world social game market is expected to rise from $639 million last year to $1 billion in 2011 and $1.5 billion in 2014.

Several titles already have an impressive following. “FarmVille,” one of the fastest-growing games on Facebook, allows players to tend virtual farms and trade items with other users.

About 31 million people play the game each day, according to Zynga, which developed it.

While Korean game giants such as Hangame and Nexon have recently jumped on the bandwagon by releasing their own social games. Even security software provider AhnLab has joined the battle, founding a venture called Hedgehogs Plus to develop social games.

Korean Web portal firms such as Daum and SK Communications, which run their own microblogging sites, have also entered the fray.

SK launched Korea’s first social game Web site in September last year, raking in some 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million) from the business over the last 11 months. Kim Yeong-eul, the company’s head of open platform business division, said the site now offers 108 games and has 3 million users.

NHN, Korea’s leading Web portal operator, is expected to launch a social game service next month.

Another emerging business model that capitalizes on the popularity of social networking sites is “social commerce,” where people make collective purchases with their online friends at cheaper prices.

One successful example is Ticket Monster, which sells various products like tickets to theme parks, massage parlors and tour packages at discount prices.

According to the firm Daoneday, there are 21 social commerce Web sites in Korea at this point and 15 more are set to launch soon.

Industry observers said that a handful of new sites have opened in the past month alone.