There was once a time when the social network HI5 was right behind Facebook and Myspace in popularity. Many people had never heard of the site and as Facebook went International it left all other networks in the dust before HI5 had a chance to carve its niche. Fast-forward to the current day where Facebook is starting to get stale as people have increasing worries about their privacy and there is a chance for a new social network to – maybe not gain the crown – but at least put a dent in the empire.
Why Go The Gaming Route?
Myspace has rebranded themselves behind the celebrity ‘coolness’ of Justin Timberlake and HI5 has taken their new avenue as a social gaming company. In the era when Facebook has gained control over the social networking user database, companies have to give people a reason to use their site. Many people deliberated about joining Facebook for years and it would be virtually impossible to get them to try different sites and take the time to compile another list of friends. HI5 decided to build its platform around one of the main reasons that people visit Facebook – the gaming.
How Popular Is Social Network Gaming?
There is definitely a market for Social Gaming as the number of users continues to surge for and blows through 100 million people in the United States alone. In fact one out of every 10 users plays the Farmville game alone and that’s not taking into account how many others are playing apps such as Words with Friends or SongPop. Social gaming offers a way for people to stay connected with each other besides just posting on their Timeline. It’s this reason that HI5 acknowledged a market existed and could be built upon.
What Makes a Successful Social Gaming Site?
One of the main things that HI5 attempted to do was regal users. It’s funner to play games with and against people you know – which goes against what parent company Tagged stands for but more on that later. The HI5 method proved to be successful as the developers were able to build up a database of 230 million registered users of which 10 million were regularly active.
The fall of HI5 and the Purchase by Tagged
Even though the company was growing and securing funding, it wasn’t at a pace that could be deemed sustainable and the developer was forced into massive layoffs in 2010. Meanwhile the social network Tagged was developing a strong presence in Asia and in some European companies. Since only about 10 percent of Tagged users were also on HI5, the choice to combine the two was one that made sense for both parties.
The Tagged Difference
Unlike Facebook which aims to connect people who know each other, Tagged follows a motto of encouraging strangers to build a network. The site accomplishes this through games, gifts, and different browsing features to find similar personalities. The HI5 acquisition plays an important part in the connecting process with its unique games.
HI5 Games
- Pets – This is an interesting if not slightly dark game where people ‘purchase’ other users to have as their pets. Different users can then also buy them and people have the ability to put a person on their pet wish list.
- Cafe – Cafe is the most popular HI5 game in which people create and decorate their own cafe and serve other users who visit in order to acquire tips from them.
- Mafia – Similar to the Facebook game, Mafia involves recruiting a crew of other users and performing various jobs to earn points.
The switch from HI5 to Tagged was a seamless one as the web site remains and all user accounts stayed active. In this competitive social networking world things aren’t all fun and games – except at HI5.
Author Bio: Jason Phillips has a dream to become a great writer and thus he is working hard at his work. He has written several articles for the site Tom and Jerry Games 365 as he is a co editor at the site.
