[xxbondsxx]

Open graph spamming, arbitrary rewards for inviting your friends, Facebook ads, cross-promotion, SEO... sounds exactly like Zynga.

Seriously though, hopefully this well shed some light on why Zygna uses the techniques they are known for -- they work. Amazingly well. Anyone who spends time in this industry discovers that pretty quickly. And it's really hard for upper management to see those upward kinks in the graph and say "please stop doing that."

The problem is that you have to become pushier and pushier over time and this leads to a slippery slope.

[justjimmy]

I don't think inviting your friends and get a reward should be tied to Zynga (and/or frowned upon) - this tactic has been used by many companies, ie: Dropbox. I personally like it.

It's Zynga's pay-to-win/continue concept that I have a problem with. That's the reason why I think Zynga is 'evil'.

[bduerst]

Dropbox offers more of a functional reward, vs. the more intangible, arbitrary rewards that Zynga offers.

[arctangent]

That and using their size to rip off the designs of smaller companies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zynga#Intellectual_property_con...