Messenger’s Basketball Game And Its Role In The Future of Mobile Advertising
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on March 20, 2016.
Facebook Joins March Madness
In the spirit of college basketball season, Facebook has revealed a simple, yet addictive, basketball game to join in on the fun that March Madness generates. If you have the latest Messenger mobile app update and have sent a basketball emoji to your friends, you might have come across a secret “not-so secret” mini game built within your messaging app.
Secret “not-so secret” because, as Mashable’s Kellen Beck points out, “Unless you read the notes of the latest Messenger update, you wouldn’t know you could shoot hoops right in the app,” which is an easy miss for users with automatic update downloads.
Note that the game will not start if you add the emoji to a phrase. For Messenger to launch the basketball game, you must send the basketball emoji by itself and then tap the sent emoji.
How To “Shoot Some Hoops”
Messenger’s basketball game plays exactly as you would expect: a quick upwards swipe of the basketball will send the ball in that direction. Throwing speed is constant and does not rely on the swipe’s velocity; the basketball will always reach the same height.
The competitive aspect of the game starts when you challenge either a single friend or a group chat by sending the basketball emoji. Messenger will clarify the highest score to beat, as well as increasing the hoop’s speed for every ten consecutive shots you accomplish.
Messenger As A Standalone App
Facebook opened 2016 with a big announcement from Messenger. Since its original release as a separate application back in August 2011, to its capability of ordering an Uber in late 2015, Messenger now boasts an incredible +800 million active users (MAUs), earning Facebook a respectable market share within the messaging community, rivaling WeChat, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, among others.
But what does the evolution of Messenger mean for the future of Facebook advertising — or even the marketing industry as a whole?
Marketing In The Messaging App Genre
Within the past years we have seen our messaging apps rapidly adapt to user trends: we saw the rise and fall of the gif-centered app, Peach (only to be succeeded by Twitter), as well as making cash payments via Snapchat (Snapcash). With “Shoot Some Hoops” it appears that built-in games are Facebook’s next move to generate additional engagement in its messaging app, although still pretty early to tell if this is the company’s goal at all.
We have seen various companies launch branded game apps in the past: in November 2012, cookie company Oreo partnered with mobile games publisher PikPok to release “Oreo: Twist, Lick, Dunk” for both iOS and Android. While Oreo’s app was notoriously a bigger project than Messenger’s basketball game, we can only expect that companies will soon want their own branded Messenger games, if available.
However, “Shoot Some Hoops” is not Messenger’s first built-in game: typing @ will make two commands appear: @dailycute and @fbchess. @Dailycute, when sent as a message, will forward a picture of a pet into the conversation, while @fbchess will start a chess game which can be played by inputting commands in a Battleship fashion.
Parting Thoughts
As mentioned, it is still too early to tell if Facebook plans to sell ad space in Messenger, but it would be safe to assume that “Shoot Some Hoops” will not be the last mini game we see from the team. Knowing the innovative company behind Instant Articles and Reactions, Facebook surely has plans for Messenger in the future — but whether it will be to rapidly monetize their +800 MAUs we have yet to see.
If “Shoot Some Hoops” is paving the way for branded mini games in messaging applications, we can expect more engaging campaigns in the near future. With diverse content outlets being released to the public (i.e. virtual reality, 360° video, etc.), companies’ marketing tactics will continue to get more creative as they fight for attention in users’ news feeds, and now possibly their direct messages.
What are your thoughts on possible advertisements in your messaging applications? Do you think that Messenger’s basketball game could be leading the way for future branded campaigns? Submit them in the comment section below.
Got any thoughts to add? Tweet me @juliangumbo or comment below!
Julian Gamboa is a UC Berkeley graduate with a focus on marketing. Julian was selected as a LinkedIn Top Voice for Marketing and #Social Media (2017) and a Course Instructor of the marketing and digital publishing course Digital Marketing Today at the Haas School of Business. He is also the founder of Digiviewpoint, a millennial publishing account.
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