Virtual Rentals are the new business model for Social Networks

Reuters note that Asia is also a playground for a range of virtual business models such as rentals.
Georgina Prodhan and Tarmo Virki report that, Cyworld rents background skins of popular South Korean baseball players for limited periods.

These rentals drive repeat sales and tap into trends.

Asian social networking sites allow users to chat, play games and share photos with some advertising thrown in.

But most of their revenues come from users, who are “represented by avatars and acquire virtual currency from the sites to buy digital goods, game packages or upgrades.”

How western SNS make money

• Habbo sells virtual clothes and furniture.
• Pet Society, which is available on Facebook, let you raise virtual pets and sell virtual pet accessories and e-food.
• With 7 million inhabitants, Second Life offers e-wares for sale for Linden dollars, the in-game virtual currency.

“They were all blown away even though some of them already knew about what was going on here,” said George Godula, founder of consultancy Web2Asia. “They (Asian social networking sites) are quite nimble at finding out business models or ways of how to make money,” he told Reuters.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/08/technology/tech-us-asia-socialnetworking.html

Need help with your web writing? Click here for a Free Quote

Tagged as: credits, Cyworld, digital currency, Facebook, Facebook Credits, google checkout, Gree, Habbo, linden dollars, micro-payments, Micro-transactions, MMOG, MMORPG, MySpace, online payments system, Plus Eight Star, power-ups, Second Life, subscriptions, Sulake, Ven, virtual clothes, Virtual Currency, Virtual Gifts, Virtual Goods, virtual pets, weapons, World of Warcraft