A few years ago we looked at the social networks that were available for gamers. There wasn’t one that really stood out. Eventually the social  scape divided into PC based and console based networks. Another facet developed  with the XBL Network. It is the decided leader for gamer interaction. Sony and Nintendo have a long way to go to catch up. Then the PC based social networks that all ready existed added on features that would be of interest to gamers. The two most popular ones being Myspace and Facebook at the moment. Each provider started some gaming applications programs. Myspace put games on subscriber profiles. Many of the aps are uploaded by spammers, and there have been continued issues with malware in the games. Also the notoriously glitter and video heavy Myspace profiles didn’t need any more flash aps or java scripts running on them then they have all ready. So although Myspace makes social networking easy they haven’t transitioned that insight into gaming. That is where Facebook inadvertently got an advantage. They added Bejeweled Blitz on and people are addicted to it, so much so that last week it was estimated that Myspace’s numbers finally fell below theirs.There are many versions of PopCap’s Bejeweled  games around the web. A  one minute freebie version of the game has been enough to drive return visits onto the site. The game will tell you when your score is beaten by someone on your  friends list, you can taunt, and send messages to friends as well.  Games that reward gamers for coming back  mean unique user visits into the millions for the site hosting them. Puzzle games are good for this. It’s only natural that the huge demographic of gamers that have been playing PC games online all along for years would churn to the next thing. Presently it’s Facebook.

It’s true that there are still many opportunities where the combination of social networking and videogames would be fun and expedient. But the killer ap has not come yet.  Microsoft announced integration of Facebook, and Twitter with Xbox Live and that may mean that the gap has been bridged. At least for those who are fans of that platform, but that isn’t everyone.