Does Facebook Need To Focus On Gaming To Increase User Engagement?
Recently Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) announced the launch of “Instant Games”, a new gaming experience on the Messenger app and the Facebook News Feed that allows users to discover, share and play new games without installing any additional apps. This move, aimed at making it easier for users to play games on its platform, should lead to higher user engagement on Facebook. According to eMarketer, in 2016 U.S. adults will spend an average of 22 minutes a day on Facebook (of the total 43 minutes spent on social media) and by 2018 this number is likely to increase by one minute (of the total 3 minutes increase in time spent on social media). However, Facebook is lagging behind in growth in usage time as it faces competition from other popular players such as Snapchat. Between 2013 and 2018, the time spent by users on social networks will grow by 5.9% while that the spent on Facebook will grow by 5.3%. Based on emMarketer’s foracst, it is clear that other players are expected to slowly creep in. As the company looks to increase the time spent on its platform (and especially its Messenger app), the introduction of Instant Games can aid in its goal. As it stares at a slowdown in growth of advertising revenues, the introduction of games on Messenger can drive revenues from gaming, which slowed down for Facebook after its traffic shifted to mobile devices.
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Increasing User Engagement On The Messenger App
Facebook is immensely focused on its messenger app and is looking to make this the “go to” app in future for all needs of the user. From ordering flowers to booking tickets, Facebook hopes that users will be able to do everything once they are online on its Messenger app. Launching Instant Games on Messenger can ensure that users are hooked to this platform and will aid in Facebook’s efforts to make this application ubiquitous. The social aspect of gaming tied to Messenger can ensure that there is repeated usage. Competition among “Facebook friends” in the games launched can ensure more frequent usage. In the desktop era, Facebook had a huge gaming platform in partnership with players such as Zynga and EA. However, as traffic moved to mobile devices, Facebook lost its gaming edge since a similar experience could not be replicated on mobile devices. In 2012 Facebook earned $256 million in payments from games from its 1.06 billion users. This figure has now declined to $ 196 million, despite the number of users increasing to nearly 1.7 billion.
With its current push into gaming, Facebook is launching a light version which is convenient and easily accessible on mobile devices without the hassle of installing additional apps. This can keep the users hooked and engage them better on its Messenger and core platform. We believe gaming can not only increase user engagement on Facebook but also provide a boost to its revenues both from advertising (as a result of higher user engagement) and from the gaming platform.
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