Hi5 is getting in touch with its inner gamer. After a multiyear struggle to keep users from defecting to rivals, the social network is reinventing itself as a social gaming and entertainment site.
Founded in 2003, hi5 will keep letting users interact with friends and family. It will also place greater emphasis on such games as pool, bingo, and Demolition City, which involves blowing up buildings around the world. Many of the pastimes include purchasing so-called virtual goods, in-game products that help a player accomplish tasks and graduate to higher levels.
By changing tack, hi5 is trying to tap the large, growing market for virtual goods, expected by ThinkEquity analysts to be worth more than $5 billion globally in 2010. The move also underscores the growing popularity of Facebook and microblogging site Twitter at the expense of rivals such as hi5 and MySpace, which itself is expanding music, gaming, and entertainment features. In January, hi5 had 47 million unique visitors worldwide, a 22% decline from a year earlier, according to ComScore (SCOR). Over the same period, Facebook’s traffic doubled to 471 million, while Twitter grew more than tenfold to 73.5 million. Games are “an interesting model” for hi5, says Atul Bagga, an analyst at ThinkEquity. “I don’t think hi5 or other networks can compete with Facebook, so they’re trying to position themselves as an entertainment-focused social network,” Bagga says.
source : businessweek
Founded in 2003, hi5 will keep letting users interact with friends and family. It will also place greater emphasis on such games as pool, bingo, and Demolition City, which involves blowing up buildings around the world. Many of the pastimes include purchasing so-called virtual goods, in-game products that help a player accomplish tasks and graduate to higher levels.
By changing tack, hi5 is trying to tap the large, growing market for virtual goods, expected by ThinkEquity analysts to be worth more than $5 billion globally in 2010. The move also underscores the growing popularity of Facebook and microblogging site Twitter at the expense of rivals such as hi5 and MySpace, which itself is expanding music, gaming, and entertainment features. In January, hi5 had 47 million unique visitors worldwide, a 22% decline from a year earlier, according to ComScore (SCOR). Over the same period, Facebook’s traffic doubled to 471 million, while Twitter grew more than tenfold to 73.5 million. Games are “an interesting model” for hi5, says Atul Bagga, an analyst at ThinkEquity. “I don’t think hi5 or other networks can compete with Facebook, so they’re trying to position themselves as an entertainment-focused social network,” Bagga says.
source : businessweek