Rumor: Watercooler China Job Posting Spawns Facebook Rumor
Marbridge Consulting, 4/14/10
Industry sources have revealed to Marbridge that Facebook's rumored China entry plans may have been spawned from misinterpretation by Chinese media of a recent job posting from an unrelated social game developer.
According to the sources, Watercooler, a U.S.-based developer of social games for Facebook which recently set up China headquarters in Beijing, posted a recruiting notice seeking staff for "development of social games for Facebook", meaning "for games to be featured on Facebook". The posting was apparently misconstrued by a popular Chinese gaming industry portal as indicating that it was Facebook itself that was recruiting for a new China office. Other Chinese news media then reportedly republished the story or variations of it.
For more background on the recent Facebook rumor and Watercooler's China entry, please see "Rumor: Facebook to Enter China as Game Developer" and "NBA China Digital Media Director Joins Watercooler," MD 4/13/10 and 3/29/10 issues.
Keywords: market entry Internet Facebook social game Watercooler online gaming SNS
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