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But what is a Zwinky?

A Zwinky is your way to add your own personal touch to a webpage, or forum. The Zwinky software allows you to create your unique Zwinky avatar to represent yourself and share a personal touch with the world in a safe and fun way!

Using a Zwinky download creates the opportunity to use a fun and creative alternative to including photos of yourself when posting on online forums or chatting through chat rooms or instant messengers. Safeguarding one’s identity and having fun at the same time is one of the reasons that Zwinkys from Zwinktopia are very popular! And they’re free!

When you download Zwinky software you can choose to include the Zwinky toolbar for your internet web browsers and instant messengers. It’s so easy even a child can do it!

You can alter your Zwinkys to suit your mood or attitude, or you can dress it up in fancy clothes, casual clothes, or anything you want to. Even your imagination doesn’t limit you!

Download Zwinky software now and you’re just a few simple steps away from enjoying your very own Zwinky and they’re wonderful Zwinktopia!

Your first step is to download the Zwinky software. Step two is to install the Zwinky software. Your third and final step is to login and create your Zwinky! Once you’ve created your Zwinky you can choose to enjoy Zwinktopia, change your Zwinky, or whatever you want! The sky’s the limit!

In Zwinktopia your Zwinky can meet other Zwinkys, or you can earn zbucks to buy new things for your Zwinky like clothes, or accessories or more. To enter Zwinktopia all you have to do is login and enter through the wardrobe area. Once there, you can alter where in Zwinktopia you are by scrolling over building or you can also advance towards the Zchat to chat with other Zwinkys!

-Zwinkys are safe

-Zwinkys are fun

-Zwinkys are easy

-Zwinkys are free

Use Zwinkys with:

-Bebo

-Facebook

-MySpace

-MSN Messenger

-AIM Messenger

-Yahoo Messenger

Any social networking sites, software products listed above are operated by and are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Zwinky was designed primarily as delivery platform for advertisements and the MyWebSearch browser, which has been classified by some as malware (meaning it is detrimental software that you shouldn’t ever choose to install) and spyware (meaning it violates your privacy by reporting your surfing habits back to the company). It hijacks bad DNS requests (if you type in a domain name that doesn’t exist, it’ll take you to an ad-laden portal instead of the usual site not found message). It also gives you lots of ads. It’s not something you’d ever want, but if you want to play Zwinky, you have to install it.

So, is Zwinky worth it? All of the gameplay in Zwinky takes place in a persistent online world called “Zwinktopia”. That means that everything you do and collect in it stays the same across different play sessions (unlike, say, Tetris). The player has Zwinky avatars (also known as characters) that inhabit the virtual world. The player can play arcade games to earn “Zbucks”, which the player can then use to buy new clothing and upgrades for their character’s dorm room. If this kind of stuff appeals to you, you might enjoy playing Zwinky — which the huge caveat of the MyWebSearch toolbar it installs.

And Zwinky does seem to appeal to lots of people. According to recent statistics, Zwinky has more unique monthy visitors than its two nearest competitors, Gaia Online and Habbo hotel, combined. So even though it’s relatively new on the scene, it’s a huge success. Lots of young teens are playing it.

One more thing to consider about Zwinky: it is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, a company you might better know as the owners of Ask.com and Excite.com. So there is some serious muscle behind Zwinky. It’s not just the product of a one-hit wonder game company. So they are in a good position to leverage Zwinky’s popularity through the use of their toolbar. And thus, no matter how much I advocate against installing Zwinky due to its bad toolbar, there are still going to be many, many young teens out there eagerly signing up, most likely because their friends are playing as well. Ahh, there’s nothing quite like marketing to kids.

Original Post: http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2007/12/03/the-complete-lowdown-on-zwinky/ 

Original Post: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/zwinky-partners.html

IAC/InteractiveCorp may have disappointed Wall Street with its second quarter results yesterday but the IAC Q2 2007 Earnings Call was revealing in that the company’s Virtual Worlds business was thriving. It’s Zwinky.com now has more than 8 million registered users who an average user session of 64 minutes and who have generated more than 15 million transactions using Zwinky virtual currency inside the virtual world of Zwinktopia. Zwinky is a $100 million a year business due to how it forces users to download a browser toolbar for Ask.com. And that is ad revenue only - not ecommerce or virtual item revenue.

From the Earnings Call:

* Zwinky.com now has over eight million registered users, spending on average 64 minutes on the site each session.

* The recent April launch of the Zwinky Virtual World, Zwinktopia, has led to over 15 million transactions using the Zwinky virtual currency called Z-Bucks. In addition to monetizing through search, there are clearly e-commerce opportunities with Zwinky, as well.

From the NY Times:

The catch is to use any of Zwinky.com services, you have to download a toolbar that will install in your Web browser that prominently features a box for searches (by, of course, Ask). The advertising revenue from these searches has become a $100 million a year business, said the chief executive of IAC’s consumer applications and portals division, which includes FunWebProducts.

Original Post: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/08/iacs-zwinkycom-.html

Zwinky

Club Penguin

Habbo Hotel

So far users have spent over 500 million free “Zbucks” on the site since launch. There’s no telling how strong the uptake of the new paid currency will be, but other services have shown a clear market for virtual goods. The passion around World of Warcraft drove a black market for virtual gold. SecondLife has also driven a paid virtual economy. While virtual goods seem hokey for outsiders, startups that create a meaningful environment find their customers willing to pay to save time earning currency or get at exclusive items.

Original Post: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/17/zwiky-cashes-in-on-virtual-ecomony/ 

Over five million people use Zwinky avatars to represent themselves on websites and blogs. Zwinky also has browser toolbar with avatar and Zwinktopia access built in. The Zwinktopia universe is owned by InterActiveCorp, which also owns SmileyCentral and Cursor Mania.

In September 2007 Zwinky incorporated pay for virtual currency into their immersive world letting users purchase batches of “Zbucks”, their virtual curency, instead of having to earn them. They join a growing group of other tween sites with paid virtual economies as well (Club Penguin, Habbo Hotel, Gaia). Users can purchase them using PayPal or credit card at a rate of about $10 for 2,000 Zbucks. With the Zbucks, users will be able to purchase their own avatar accessories or furnish their virtual rooms in Zwinktopia. Zwinky is not only making money from the Zbucks, but also through sponsorships and sales made through the virtual goods.

Zwinky is one of IAC’s properties.

Original Copy: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/zwinky

Like WeeMee/WeeWorld and Meez, Zwinky provides portable avatars to post on Facebook, MySpace and other social networks - changing your avatar on the service automatically updates it elsewhere. Unlike rival services, avatars are created using a toolbar that bundles a bunch of other IAC services: Smiley Central, Cursor Mania, Popular Screensavers, the MyWebSearch search box and Search Assistant. Experienced users should be dubious about downloading this stuff - although not malicious, the toolbar adds a large number of features that you might not want. Once downloaded, the toolbar lets you choose from a selection of hairstyles, eye colors, skin tones, outfits, makeup, accessories and backgrounds. What’s more, Zwinky provides MySpace-style profile pages that are totally customizable: drop in a MySpace layout, add YouTube videos, send “Znotes” to other Zwinkies and more.

I’m not overjoyed at the fact that they’ve bundled Zwinky with the MyWebSearch toolbar, but neither was I particularly crazy about the fact that Gigya has its roots in Hotbar. The simple fact is that these two sites are much more tuned in to the MySpace generation than many well-funded Silicon Valley startups, and will probably be massive viral successes despite a lack of interest from the geek elite. Zwinky seems to be doing everything right when it comes to marketing through the network of MySpace add-on sites, and I expect they’ll see great results.

Original Post: http://mashable.com/2006/12/06/zwinky-launches/