Eric von Coelln digs into the numbers behind social media, marketing, casual games and more.
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Facebook Enforces Most New Policies, Seemingly Lax on Gating Content

Looking back at Facebook’s changes to how application developers could use the platform, developers have mostly complied with prohibitions forcing users to give gifts before playing the game on first and recurring visits. Yet the largest developers seem to still be allowed to gate content (like land expansions) based on the number of friends a user has – continuing to put pressure on people who do not want to spend money to extend their social graph to potential strangers in order to unlock content.

Mafia Wars Tests Paying for Thai Expansion: Dawn of a New Social Game Model?

Now that Mafia Wars by Zynga is charging close to $6 for the new Thailand expansion pack, does this new wrinkle in the freemium model for social games signal an inevitable emulation of MMORPGs?