Can social gaming influence the presidential election?

Big data needs data scientists, or quants, or Excel jockeys
No wonder big data is hot in venture capital this year. Forbes has been running a series on big data, and many of the business leaders it has interviewed say “people underestimate the degree to which big data can fundamentally change their business.”

What was especially interesting is that while technology has made storing and aggregating data much faster and more affordable, some of these experts say “keeping the data in its raw form can provide insights into long tails, allowing firms to identify and target relatively small cohorts that fall outside the normal distribution… when you get down to the everyday work of data scientists and analysts, in a very quiet average work-a-day way, they are finding a lot of insights that are becoming increasingly critical to the way companies are doing their business.” Read full article.

We’ve seen this firsthand. At Kontagent, our data scientists have been instrumental in providing insights to our hundreds of social customers. (We process millions of messages daily.) We believe, while data is awesome, you need domain expertise to make sense of it all. That’s Moneyball lesson #3: Look at the data that really matters; it may not be obvious at first.

A profile of the social gamer - Click for full view (Courtesy of Flowtown)

Profiling the social gamer
Flowtown created this infographic on the social gamer. It says more women play social games than men do, and goes into details such as education, income and user behavior.

Ngmoco looks to blend core appeal with mobile usage patterns
Ngmoco general manager Ben Cousins has big plans for the mobile company’s Swedish branch. As the mobile market continues to evolve, he and his team hope to find new ways to blend elements of high-end console gaming with the more casual usage patterns of the platform.

According to Cousins, while some developers have already tried to capture console-like experiences on mobile, they’ve overlooked the reasons why users play mobile games in the first place.

The fight is on for mobile game players
Gamasutra’s Kris Graft writes: “We know where Apple users will get their games, but the Android marketplace is still famously fragmented. That’s not driving away companies from the platform, however, as they can’t ignore the massive install base of Android.”

And where opportunity lies, so does competition. Many of the players are trying to team up with major carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon. Which partnerships should you be aware of?

Bionic Panda sets its sights on Android
Speaking of social gaming networks, here’s another one: Bionic Panda.

Its executives think that mobile devs who are trying to build a casual-style game that anyone can play easily, that reaches as many people as possible, should focus on the Android Market. And, it hopes it can use Google Wallet to better monetize users.

The idea is good enough to raise money from Norwest Venture Partners, Google Ventures, 500 Startups, and several angels. Read full article.

What’s old is new again:
Atari is reinventing itself for the era of social and mobile games
Last spring, Atari released Atari’s Greatest Hits for iOS. The game featured classic arcade games such as Centipede, Lunar Lander and Missile Command. It has been downloaded more than 3.5 million times from the App Store. And, it was recently made available in the Android Marketplace, further expanding the market for Atari products.

Atari CEO Jim Wilson thinks the company has a leg up on the competition since discovery and acquisition are major challenges for many mobile app developers: “The great thing about Atari and its very brand is that it is recognizable. You understand what it is, and frankly, in the App Store or the Android Marketplace, discoverability is a big issue for people who are releasing their games. One of the benefits of Atari is that it creates instant recognition and discoverability in the App Store and the Android Marketplace.”

The company has slimmed down to 65 employees, most of whom are targeting the mobile gaming platform. Read full article.

Watch out for Windows
Several writers are predicting that Microsoft will disrupt the smartphone market–they say at CES last week, the majority of the tech press were already rooting for Windows Phone. Despite the fact that Windows Phone only has approximately 50,000 apps, “Microsoft has all the tools in place to enlarge [a serious developer] community.”

• Business Insider: Here’s Why Robert Scoble And The Rest Of The Pundits Are Wrong: Windows Phone Will Be A Success
• Seeking Alpha: Microsoft, Nokia Have A Real Chance Of Disrupting The Smartphone Market

Just a coincidence?
Fast Company says Instagram, which received the honor of the App Store’s “App of the Year” for 2011, could be available on Windows Phone before Android (even though Android users have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the photo-sharing app).

According to Fast Company, “a source recently left the impression that the Windows Phone team has possibly been working with the folks from Instagram.” Here’s why some think Instagram would go to an OS with such a low market share.

Can gamers change the presidential election this year?
And now, onto the U.S. presidential election. Digital advertising firm Engage is currently experimenting with online gamification for some of their political clients. They also offer a social media platform, called Multiply, that integrates gamification techniques into a candidate’s website. For example, if you visit the website of House Speaker John Boehner, you can earn badges for checking in from the speaker’s home state of Ohio, or by linking the page to your Facebook account.

“The user gets instant gratification, a sense of involvement and participation and gratitude,” says Patrick Ruffini, Engage president. “The campaign gets data.”

Campaign organizers say there is a new breed of voters–one that was raised on the fast-paced interactions of the social Web. They hope this data helps political candidates better organize and target potential voters, donors and volunteers. How effective this is remains to be seen, but Ruffini reminds us: “You can’t campaign on games alone.”

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About the author: Catherine Mylinh is a member of Kontagent’s storytelling team, where she is head of content marketing. She credits her journalism and computer science roots—she was once a programmer!—for her love of learning and writing about all things high tech. You can contact Catherine at @cat_mylinh.