A race to harness social media

PayPal founder and Google’s VP of engineering, Max Levchin believes Facebook has the potential to become the most valuable company in the world, particularly if it can successfully “replace core messaging,” Levchin said at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco.

He’s not saying anything surprising. Facebook is already valued at around $50 billion, and that number appears to be heading in only one direction. What’s the easiest way to contact someone or get their information or to learn about their interests, likes, dislikes? Well it’s not Hi5.

When and how will the gambling industry utilize Facebook to grow the industry?

The way it looks right now, Facebook is the future. How can the gaming industry intertwine itself with the social media juggernaut? It wasn’t too long ago that visitors to UK online gambling sites actually exceeded the likes of Facebook. You don’t have to be a genius to realize that the benefits of social media in the gaming industry’s eyes are enormous. But it will be pure genius to devise a way to harness the momentum of social media.

As laws concerning the gaming industry continue to be challenged in various regions, it may not be long before the window of opportunity opens for online gaming companies to capitalize fully on social media, or will it be land-based enterprises that beat them to the punch? My concern is that Facebook already has gambling apps, like scratch and win cards and Texas HoldEm Poker that people can play earn credits. If significant law changes came about, they already have the clients, and their friends, it wouldn’t be so difficult for them to offer real money games…Then what? Friend or foe?