App of the Day: My Aquarium
09/07/07 15:58 Filed in: Reviews
The Pitch:
Developer Greg
Thomson has created an application
that is part Pets and part virtual
gift sending wrapped up in a …
fishbowl. My Aquarium
starts
users out with an empty "aquarium" and
some coins. Use the coins to "buy"
aquatic life to fill it with. The
social hook is that:
A.) Users can send and receive sea creatures from friends.
B.) Users can display their populated aquariums.
The Good:
Definitely the selection of sea life that’s available to users. Thomson included everything from a standard goldfish to a miniature shark (the later of which costs 500 coins). Other cool critters include swordfishes, octopuses, and sea horses. The objects are well done, and it’s easy to move everything around. Users start out with 250 coins, which is enough to fill the aquarium — as long as they don't opt for a shark or an octopus. After that initial coin allotment, users get 100 coins a day — or whatever creatures friends send to them..
Not as Good:
The initial interface is a bit confusing. The application is clearly set up to be as viral as possible by getting users to invite friends to check it out, and as a result its not clear how to initially get anything inside the aquarium. To do so, just click on the "Send MYNAME A Fish." Not unclear to anyone who refers to himself or herself in the third person, but for the rest of us, it can be confusing. The message board and reviews at the application site have several people experiencing the same confusion.
Monetization Possibilities:
It seems like a national-chain pet store would be a natural choice to affiliate in some way in order to build brand awareness. The site could probably sell most of these sea creations, adding a reminder to users that they can also get a real goldfish for $5 might be an effective marketing strategy for a pet store.. My Aquarium reached 40,000 users very quickly, which suggests there are plenty of virtual fish lovers out there.
Is it Contagious:
This is a fun little application. It added 25,000 users today to grab 187 percent virality. It is not going to become the most popular application on Facebook, but for those who like creative little fish and know other people who do as well, then this might be fun every once in a while.
I am not an
aquarium owner, (my most recent fish
ownership experience ended when a
curious cat knocked the unfortunate
gilled creature out of its bowl
while I slept), but I am not
familiar with the idea of people
giving each other fish for their
aquariums. It will be interesting to
see if Thomson is able to keep a
steady supply of life forms. What
would be fantastic is to something
like this where the fish move
around on the screen and users can
feed them. It appears the big
competitor on Facebook is the
Pets
Application, but these are still
pretty different. I do not see this
being a case of having to choose one
over the other. (Credit
Appaholic
for the
graph)
Start your own virtual aquarium! Send fish, sharks and even octopus to your friends for free. Let them send items to you as well. Put your virtual aquarium on your profile page for everyone to see.
Developer Greg
Thomson has created an application
that is part Pets and part virtual
gift sending wrapped up in a …
fishbowl. My Aquarium
starts
users out with an empty "aquarium" and
some coins. Use the coins to "buy"
aquatic life to fill it with. The
social hook is that:
A.) Users can send and receive sea creatures from friends.
B.) Users can display their populated aquariums.
The Good:
Definitely the selection of sea life that’s available to users. Thomson included everything from a standard goldfish to a miniature shark (the later of which costs 500 coins). Other cool critters include swordfishes, octopuses, and sea horses. The objects are well done, and it’s easy to move everything around. Users start out with 250 coins, which is enough to fill the aquarium — as long as they don't opt for a shark or an octopus. After that initial coin allotment, users get 100 coins a day — or whatever creatures friends send to them..
Not as Good:
The initial interface is a bit confusing. The application is clearly set up to be as viral as possible by getting users to invite friends to check it out, and as a result its not clear how to initially get anything inside the aquarium. To do so, just click on the "Send MYNAME A Fish." Not unclear to anyone who refers to himself or herself in the third person, but for the rest of us, it can be confusing. The message board and reviews at the application site have several people experiencing the same confusion.
Monetization Possibilities:
It seems like a national-chain pet store would be a natural choice to affiliate in some way in order to build brand awareness. The site could probably sell most of these sea creations, adding a reminder to users that they can also get a real goldfish for $5 might be an effective marketing strategy for a pet store.. My Aquarium reached 40,000 users very quickly, which suggests there are plenty of virtual fish lovers out there.
Is it Contagious:
This is a fun little application. It added 25,000 users today to grab 187 percent virality. It is not going to become the most popular application on Facebook, but for those who like creative little fish and know other people who do as well, then this might be fun every once in a while.
I am not an
aquarium owner, (my most recent fish
ownership experience ended when a
curious cat knocked the unfortunate
gilled creature out of its bowl
while I slept), but I am not
familiar with the idea of people
giving each other fish for their
aquariums. It will be interesting to
see if Thomson is able to keep a
steady supply of life forms. What
would be fantastic is to something
like this where the fish move
around on the screen and users can
feed them. It appears the big
competitor on Facebook is the
Pets
Application, but these are still
pretty different. I do not see this
being a case of having to choose one
over the other. (Credit
Appaholic
for the
graph)