Did you see my flexible sentence on facebook?

Today, Facebook announced a new "flexible sentence" options for apps that publish to Facebook using  the custom open graph structure.

These posts typically appear on your Timeline. More flexibility and options are good for developers. But I can't help but wonder if they are missing the forest from the trees. I for one almost never go to someone else's Facebook Timeline. I don't have any hard numbers, but anecdotally, I've heard from other developers that traffic from the Timeline is pretty small. What is the point of optimizing a feature that doesn't get much traffic?

In other words, if a flexible sentence falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it matter?

Click to read the Facebook's Blog post here.

Planwise helps you plan wisely by focusing on scenarios

The Planwise app has a unique take on how to leverage data.  Interesting take in the world of personal finance. Instead of showing a current snapshot, the service paints of picture of what it can be via scenarios. 

"Most PFM [Personal Financial Management] tools focus on where you are today and where you have been," Niall Wells, CFO, COO and business development exec at Planwise tells BTN. "People don't care that much about money. …The times they do care about money is when they undertake a large transaction or are about to run out of money. We position our tool more from a behavioral standpoint."

Read more about it in American Banker.

Their approach got me thinking. With the deluge of data out there, many of our organizational dashboards and analytics focus too much in two areas: daily metrics, and lagging indicators.  For example, mobile app companies obsess over their iTunes store ranking or track every blip in their DAU/MAU numbers.

I wonder if there is a way to use the same data but to take a longer more "behavioral" standpoint.

When to go vertical

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla has a great post on the decision for Tesla to create it's own approach to distributing and servicing its cars.

Tesla, as a new carmaker, would therefore rarely have the opportunity to educate potential customers about Model S if we were positioned in typical auto dealer locations. 

That is why we are deliberately positioning our store and gallery locations in high foot traffic, high visibility retail venues, like malls and shopping streets that people regularly visit in a relatively open-minded buying mood. This allows us to interact with potential customers and have them learn about our cars from Tesla Product Specialists before they have decided which new car to buy. 

Insight: Introducing a new product to an existing market, a company should adopt a more vertical strategy.  Owning the end customer is extremely important as it allows you to position and control the message and experience.

Big Fish Casino introduces real-money gambling in the UK

Mobile companies launch products that pool a global-base of players while selecting monetization methods of gaming or gambling based on local regulations.

While real-money gambling is only getting turned on in the UK version of the iOS app, users in other markets like the U.S. will be still be able to share chips across different games, chat with other players and give virtual gifts. The non-gambling version of Casino will be available on Google Play,Amazon’s Appstore, the App Store and Facebook.

Big Fish Casino Raises The Stakes on iPhone with Real-Money Gambling

Nimble Bit takes another bite at Zynga

Tiny Tower maker NimbleBit just took another bite at Zynga for copying their game with the launch of Dream Heights. First the guys at Nimble Bit wrote an open letter to Zynga.

And now, to the delight of their Tiny Tower players, they've created a new passive aggressive mission to win in-game currency.

The mission, "Beware of Dog" with a Bitizen dressed in a Devil costume includes the copy "After failing to buy your tower, a rival developer would like the following: 13,500 Tower Design (Architect Office), 2,500 City Sim (Game Studio)"

It's no secret that many of Zynga's games are clones from other studios. In fact, this is pretty common practice across most social gaming companies.

I'm a captive audience for Tiny Tower, given that I've already invested time building my tower. I'm less likely to try Zynga's new game. However, it will be interesting what's going to happen. Unlike Facebook, where Zynga has a the offer bar, virality is a harder nut to crack with mobile. Social, on balance, is a lot harder to get right on mobile than on Facebook. Social games that have worked are either multiplayer or head-to-head games (like words with friends)

The ease of copying a game and the inability to protect the IP mean that companies like Nimble Bit have a couple different options: They can complain about it (which Nimble Bit did with dazzling pizzazz), double down on customer acquisition, and/or innovate.

While the jabs are definitely fun, Niimble Bit also needs to start pouring money to make sure they get in front of the user first. Apple's spotlight as the game of the year has been great, but the team needs to continually throw cash in becoming the first play for each new user. Continually innovating (which they have done) will help beef up retention from their player-base.