Social Networking, Zynga | featured news

Zynga announced plans to offer a central hub to connect players of multiple games who use various devices.

Facebook said it has begun placing ads on Zynga's website, another move by the social network to add revenue sources on the heels of its flawed IPO.

Facebook went public just about a month ago, and on Friday the Securities & Exchange Commission released its correspondence with the social network in the months between its initial filing and the May 18 IPO.

This story appears in the May 7 edition of Forbes magazine on page 150. Zynga, Facebook and all use an independent auditor that is simultaneously inventing the rules for social media accounting. Somewhere, Arthur Andersen is shuddering.

With all the talk about excessive compensation, ponzi schemes and the nasty side of Steve Jobs, it might be easy to assume that all successful CEOs are jerks.

“OMG! A big Zynga group hug to OMGPOP, talented creators of Draw Something,” tweeted social games titan Zynga Wednesday. Apparently, in this universe, a “big Zynga group hug” translates to $180 million, the price that All Things D claims Zynga paid to acquire the makers of the most popular mobile Facebook app.

Zynga, the creator of FarmVille, Words With Friends and Mafia Wars, announced a new gaming platform on Thursday that will match up players who do not know each other.

Almost lost in Zynga’s disappointing fourth-quarter earnings report was one bright spot: advertising. Ad revenues jumped 230%, to $27 million in the fourth quarter–almost four times the social gaming company’s 59% rise in overall revenues. Chalk it up in part to a new, more interactive kind of ad from “engagement marketing” firm SocialVibe.

We will be looking for any signs of an increase in Zynga's average revenue per user for its new games, which is one of the biggest drivers to its stock value, by our estimates.