Facebook Expands Free Credits Promotion in CrowdStar's Hello City
Facebook introduced a new promotion of its Credits virtual currency last week: users could get five free credits in exchange for installing CrowdStar’s new Hello City simulation game.
Those who have earned those points may have seen a followup email from CrowdStar since then. The email contains a link that users can share with their friends, who can then earn 5 Credits themselves from adding the app.
Users who were already playing the game, meanwhile, are getting the option to click on a button to get their 5 Credits; these users can also give 5 free Credits to their friends (along with an install of Hello City), by posting a notice and a link to the promotion on their walls and in friends’ News Feeds.
CrowdStar is already Facebook’s official testing partner for Credits; last winter, it launched the first app from a major developer to use Credits exclusively; in later promotions, such as a prominent box featuring Credits-powered games within the Games Dashboard, CrowdStar’s apps have also been front and center.
We assume that Facebook is reimbursing CrowdStar, just the same as it otherwise would — and also reimbursing any other developer who has an app where these free Credits are used.
These latest promotions show that Facebook is willing to seed users with free Credits (i.e. spend its own money) as a part of its efforts to boost the Credits economy.
