Today at Facebook’s Places announcement, Facebook announced that the new features would be rolling out first on touch.facebook.com, and later on Facebook for iPhone, tonight.

Places will become a central part of Facebook’s mobile apps, enabling users to not only check in where they are, but also see which friends are nearby at that time, or have been there in the past. However, the content generated by people interacting with Places can still be seen by everyone on Facebook.com (and other mobile devices that may not support checking in on Facebook yet. Given the sensitive nature of location data, Facebook says that the default privacy settings for sharing Places will be to friends only.

Facebook for iPhone has long been one of the most widely used iPhone applications, and Facebook Places should only accelerate user engagement on the iPhone and other smartphones that support it. Facebook says it intends to roll out support to all mobile versions of Facebook.

Update: The app is now live in the app store.

Above, the Places page for Facebook HQ. Below, friends nearby.

We’re here at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, covering Facebook’s location service launch event. Interest is running high and the room is packed with press, because increasingly specific rumors have been leaking about about Facebook’s plans since last year — and because location intersects with other major trends, from local advertising and group deals, to e-commerce and social games, and more. We hear there are a number of location-based services and other companies on hand, so stay tuned.

Mark Zuckerberg has taken the stage (and you can watch the live stream here).

5:24 Mark Zuckerberg

We build things and when we have a feeling that they’re ready to go, we start rolling them out. Today, the thing we’re going to be talking about is a new Places product that we’ve been working on for a few months… at least testing it for a few months.

The way we knew that it’s near-complete… I was out at dinner with my girlfriend, and she noticed that [another Facebook exec] was at the restaurant nearby. It was that serendipitous moment that we knew it was ready.

Places. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Three things we’re going to talk about [people doing]:

– Sharing where they are

– Seeing who’s around you

– See what’s going on, discovering new places.

We also have a lot of other launch nights coming this summer.

[Professionally-created video about Places starts playing]

5:29 Michael Sharon, product manager for mobile/Places

[We're] launching places on Facebook.com, mobile browsers and our brand-new iPhone app we’re releasing later tonight.

Shows your location, your friends nearby location, and other friends further away.

As soon as you check in, you see a collection of places around you, sorted by what we think is most interesting to you. You can search, none might be there, and tap the top button to add a place. Add a name and a description and you’re there…

News feed for each Place. You can comment and Like each Place. [At the] far right of Place web page, Facepile. List of friends who have visited. You can see all friends who have been there. Not about broadcasting to the world, but sharing with your friends.

To check in, you tap on the check in button, what you’ll see is the preview of the story at the top, then a notice, and a link to find out more. Click “agree” to create a new story. There’s another new section. When you go to a bar and look around, you can see a whole bunch of people who are there. Here [it] now lets you see friends and other people who are checked in.

Photos are one of the most popular products. One of the things that makes it so good is tagging. But tagging lets you connect with people in that photo. Just like people know for photos, we also have tagging for status updates. Start typing the @symbol, that creates a story on your wall, and their wall.

Everyone on Facebook now is familiar with that for Photos, we took that to Places, so it’s going to be natural for users. Check in, see a list, tap your friend’s face, and that creates a story.

The story is already natural, it’s as if your friend was at a restaurant nearby eating. Tagging is one of the things that makes this really special. When you’re hanging out with friends, you may want to check in, you’re going to be at the exact same place. We thought it would be great to let you tag, check each other in wherever you go. Why is this important? For starters, we’re making it available in advanced mobile interfaces, but not everybody has an iPhone, or other advanced phone. But they still want to be in the photo and status update.

5:35 Michael Sharon

An update, a notice of what’s going on. When you hit allow — from a friend — it will show up on the wall, Place page, friends who have visited. If you click “not now” it’s a little bit like the @ mention. In that case it will just show up on your friend’s wall. But not on your wall or on the Place page. No other info is associated with you in that post.

Bearing in mind privacy controls, we have an active set of safeguards. We default check-in to friends only. That’s the default, but you can change. We’ve made sure this is a full privacy widget so you can restrict to a few specific people.

You can always remove any check-in from your phone or the web. In the “Here Now” section it’s only there once you opt in. If any friends are lower than friends of friends, then it defaults to the most private.

A couple things to note about tagging:

1) You can only tag your friends, this is really important, and only when you’re checking in. You’re always notified when you’re tagged. You can always remove. And we went one step further. You can opt out of having friends tag you. This is accessible on the privacy page along with all the other Places privacy settings.

2) Another great feature that we’ve had on the web for a long time is reporting. Then you have the option to take [it] out.

3) Another great thing is that we’re not launching on Facebook… we’re also launching a great API, which allows a number of developers to use. The API parts:

– Read check-ins, find out more info. Launching tomorrow.

– Search: find places

– Write: publish to FB

More details coming on the APIs later today.

5:40 Scott Raymond from Gowalla

[We have been] huge fans of Facebook and the Facebook platform for years now. [We've had] Connect integration from day 1. Building on that.

Preview of the Gowalla and Facebook integration. For existing users, it will remain the much the same. Our organizing principle is the passport. People love collecting. User experience — you can choose to publish to Facebook or not. It’ll look a lot like existing feed stories but a lot richer because you’ll be able to see your friend’s exact position on the map, and see the stamp. Same with photos, attach to check-in, and becomes part of Place page in Gowalla, and published to news feed and Facebook check-ins.

5:43 Holger Luedorf, VP of partnerships for Foursquare.

Great place for still-small check-in industry. Much bigger theme going forward. I think most of you given the topic will be familiar with Foursquare. A year old when it comes in. I think there are different reasons why people use Foursquare. Things such as our badges, point system — engagement — but an added benefit. A lot of people do this already, even though Facebook has launched this. What you have to keep in mind is that check-ins at the core of all this are going to be a greater experience. Better tips and to-dos experience. Find new venues, see new experiences. [What we] hear back from users is that a lot of people have already been finding great experiences even before Facebook.

We’re going to build upon this location check-in and where we are right now is only the beginning. We’re exploring how we’re going to leverage that experience for our Foursquare experience.

5:46 Eric Singley, Yelp Product Manager

Instant Personalization was a huge success for us and our users. People wanted to add that additional layer. 2.5 million people using our iPhone and Android apps. Relatively recently, we also launched a check-in product, that’s successful with our users, growing… fastest way Yelp is growing now. We’re looking foward.

Our integration is pretty straightforward, give you the opportunity to share with just your Yelp friends or on Facebook. Photo, name, some information about business. Launching tomorrow.

Monocle feature lets you see Yelp and Facebook friends around you.

5:49 Keith Lee, CEO of Booyah

We’re super-stoked to be here. We’re the creators of MyTown. Our goal was to create a new product called in-crowd, utilize all real-time social interactions around real-world locations. Half game, half utility. In three weeks we developed for iPhone… Facebook integration. Find friends by location, search, nearby listings. It’s going to be out very soon.

5:51 Michael Sharon

What we’re excited for is when we flip the switch tomorrow and see what everyone else does.

5:53 Chris Cox, Facebook VP of Product

A little secret about Facebook employees — we’re all closet sociologists. Seriously… there is a pretty cool sociologist, Ray Oldenburg, whose take on this whole thing was this. There are three places that matter: home, where you wake up, where your family is, where you eat, where you go to reflect; work, the economic engine of society, brains muscles, invest time and energy greater than ourselves; third, most important and critical as the foundation. Coined term “the third place” — a bar, restaurant, library, street outside, newsstand. Where we go and share our lives with each other, and where random run-ins happen. Tech that we’re creating in 20th century was in danger of destroying the third place. Fear that we would just sit at home rather than going to watch the play.

Rather than experiencing life outside, content with our own private personal venues into what’s going on in the world. What might happen is that the third place would be destroyed.

Theory here, and entire goal of this product, is that the third place is alive and well, and tech is what will pull us away from the TV and out to the theater or bar. Tech doesn’t need to estrange us from each other. Where is it all headed? Maybe at some point you walk into the bar for the first time. Suddenly it starts to glow: it shows what your friends have ordered here. It starts to pop up memories. These are the stories that your friends told here “go check out the message written above the urinal.” What happens is that the story begins to come alive. I’m particularly excited to see the Nuthouse history.

One day, you’ll go to a page, and on that page will be our collective memory. The things we felt and had and lived together, memorialized. Too many of our stories are still collecting dust.

Maybe one day in 20 years, our children will go to Ocean Beach in San Francisco, and their phone will vibrate and they’ll get a message saying “this is where your parents had their first kiss, and this is the phone they took after.”

Q & A:

Q: You mentioned privacy controls for people and friends… what about Places?

A: By default, we expect Places to be public. But we have various ways of determining if it’s public. If enough people check in, then we make it public. If you don’t like someone else’s place, you can flag it.

Q: [Question about a missing feature]

Zuckerberg: You can imagine a whole world of these things getting built. If we can succeed in doing these three things well, then that’s a good start.

Q: What will the issues be for the devleopers?

A: Won’t have full coverage over 500 million people immediately. Just US, with the web and iPhone apps now. Visible on web to everyone. Let’s say you’re not in the US. You can see [what friends do].

Q: When will it get to everyone?

A: Next few weeks.

Q: Plans for Blackberry and Android?

A: The  launch is for all applications that support it.  Works for Android, too.

Q: Link to Facebook business Pages?

A: At launch, showed you example of Place pages — link asking “is this your business?” Then you can verify and it becomes a business Page.

Q: Worked for the last few months… but when and how did it start?

A: Around December of last year, the team came together and got going.

Zuckerberg: What is a good set of features and product that is very different from what everyone else has built? The tagging product that the team came up with is very different from anything else that you’ll see anywhere. You’re using the product fundamentally with the nuances of people around you. Also making sure people have control. Those were things that took awhile. There were a lot of ideas. We’re not just excited for this launch but for the next phase as well.

Q: Did privacy delay?

Zuckerberg: There was so much to do that I don’t know if we could have launched it before now anyway. We want to make sure there’s a certain quality bar. We want to make sure it works for the use cases we have now.

Q: Can you check in to a viewing event like a movie or TV show.

Zuckerberg: No. Sorry, not yet. There’s a lot of stuff that we’re not doing, that we do well — that’s been a big focus for us here.

Q: I was wondering — what’s the impact, what about that part about getting married? Are your kids going to see that?

Zuckerberg: We try to build a strong foundation along the way. We’ll listen to how people use the product, behaviors. That’ll inform [the rest].

Facebook has just changed its status update tagging tool to automatically display a drop-down menu of friends, Pages, events and groups you might be trying to tag. Users can still enter an @ symbol followed by the name of something to tag it, but now will see matches for any word they capitalize. It appears that only those with access to Facebook Questions and the new status publisher associated with it can currently use the new tagging method.

The drop-downs appear in real time as you type, which could encourage tagging for those unfamiliar with the @ method. However, those who don’t usually use capitalization might miss the new feature, and unsolicited drop downs may be distracting while typing.

Users can tag status updates with up to six profiles or events they’re connected to, placing a link to those Facebook pages in the update. Friends tagged receive a notification, making it a great way to ensure someone sees a piece of content. To be tagged, an item must have representation on Facebook itself, and can’t just be a piece of content liked on a third party website. There is currently some delay after connecting to something before you can tag it, which can be frustrating when you find an interesting new Page or event and immediately want to share it.

This change will likely reveal the opportunity to tag things in status updates to many users. There are lots of useful applications for update tagging, such as citing an event one is about to go to, or as an alternative way to suggest Pages to friends. However, increased prevalence may lead to comical use, or abuse, depending on your perspective. For example, one Facebook employee told us of a practical joke his friends play on each other. One can tag a friend in an embarrassing update, but restrict the distribution of the update to only that friend. They typically panic or get mad as they can’t tell they’re the only one seeing the update.

Facebook may unveil location features tonight that will let users tag their status updates with where they are and “like” or establish relationships with Places. Facebook is approaching location as a platform play; it will probably allow other popular location services like Foursquare, Booyah’s MyTown or Gowalla to contribute check-ins so long as they are structured in a way that the social network can transform into search results or other offerings.

The launch also coincides with a new feature that appeared today that auto-completes users’ status updates with objects like Pages, interests and likes. These are probably connected. The auto-suggest feature may help users attach Places to their status updates. Other social networking companies taking a platform approach to location like Twitter are trying to encourage their users to share their whereabouts more often. But only when it makes sense, and doesn’t jeopardize privacy control.

The company has reportedly partnered with location-focused business directory Localeze, the same company that powers conversion of addresses or coordinates into named locations for Twitter. Facebook could use Localeze’s directory to match addresses, and coordinates coming in through the API with businesses that have Facebook Pages.

Anticipation has been building for this for months. Earlier today, a fraudulent Twitter account called Facebook Places appeared, purporting to confirm rumors of a new Places feature. It was later suspended.

The company has long hinted at a location feature. In the company’s privacy policy update last fall, Facebook added a special location section. It said, “when you share your location with others or add a location to something you post, we treat that like any other content you post (for example, it is subject to your privacy settings). If we offer a service that supports this type of location sharing we will present you with an opt-in choice of whether you want to participate.”

The portion of the privacy policy was later changed in March as the company’s ideas for location evolved. The new language hints at Places that users might be able to like or stick in their status updates.

The company said in March:

“The last time we updated the Privacy Policy, we included language describing a location feature we might build in the future. At that point, we thought the primary use would be to “add a location to something you post.” Now, we’ve got some different ideas that we think are even more exciting.

So, we’ve removed the old language and, instead added the concept of a “place” that could refer to a Page, such as one for a local restaurant. As we finalize the product, we look forward to providing more details, including new privacy controls.”

The service had reportedly been in the works for several months and many had expected it to make its debut in April at the f8 developer conference. But it didn’t and was pushed further back as the company diverted its attention to a major privacy overhaul in May.

Facebook has begun rolling out a new design of the Like button for use on 3rd party websites. The number of likes a piece of content has now appears in a speech bubble next to the button, and becomes encompassed in the button when clicked. To make it obvious when a click will unlike something, the thumbs up icon changes to an undo arrow when hovered over.

Some variations of the button are slimmer, but at least one variation is slightly wider than its old version, which could cause conversion issues. In some cases the right edge of the button can be cut off if there isn’t enough space. The button now matches the speech bubble style of sharing buttons for Google Buzz and Twitter.

Facebook tells us the following: “The switch was recently flipped to begin rolling out new variations of the Like button. The new features are based on partner feedback and are aimed at making the user experience more seamless.” The Like button was released in April at F8, and has since been installed on more than 350,000 sites as a way for people to share their affinity for a piece of third party content back to Facebook.

The old design had some issues, such as the Like count floating in blank space next to the button which could make the number seem unrelated. When clicked, the button turned a dark blue and had no feedback mechanism when hovered over to denote what would happen if clicked again. This may have caused some to accidentally unlike things they’d previously liked. The new design clears up these issues, and makes the post-clicked button look similar to the like counts on news feed stories on Facebook’s main site.

The Like button’s functionality is not affected by the design change. Sites still have a choice between standard and “Like with comment” variations as well as a variety of Share and Recommend buttons. As more sites see the new design implemented, we’ll monitor if the change has any influence on the average number of likes a piece of content receives.

[Image via TechCrunch.]

Facebook e-commerce company Payvment offers an application that can be integrated into Facebook Pages, helping any size business sell more real goods. And today it is launching an API that lets vendors synchronize their inventory and distribution systems with the app.

We spoke to company chief executive Christian Taylor about the news and reviewed the Payvment app as part of a new occasional series examining e-commerce on Facebook.

E-commerce has existed on the web for more than a decade, so beyond giving merchandise some face-time in Pages, a key part of what Payvment does is get people sharing about shopping in their news feeds. When users share, suggest, comment on or review any item in a Payvment store, that activity shows up in their friends’ feeds.

Conceived from the get-go to offer e-commerce specifically to Facebook users without forcing them to leave the site, Payvment also allows users to keep one shopping cart between sessions and across every single Payvment store.

Using Payvment’s stores as a Facebook shopping tool is easy.

You simply browse the stores by visiting Payvment’s Facebook Page or using the Search function on any Payvment store front. These stores are located on a Shop Now tab and allow you to search for whatever item suits you. You can also check out an item that one of your friends has shared in the stream. You click on the item, add it to your shopping cart and then proceed to enter your name, shipping information, preferred shipping method, PayPal account information and voilà.

To set up a Payvment store as an admin, the process is slightly more involved.

First you must set up an account with Payvment on its web site, which requires you to provide some back information and a PayPal account. Then you install the app on Facebook, including a code sent to you by Payvment’s web site: you enter your store name, currency type (from among 20 global options) and make your store public (or not) and you’re done. Taylor tells us that implementing Credits may be in the company’s future, especially given a new focus on digital goods such as movie and music downloads, but PayPal is currently the app’s currency handler.

As a Page admin, the Payvment app will allow you to create a store on a Shop Now tab on your Facebook Page. On this Page the Pavyment app will set up a store front complete with photos and prices of merchandise, which users may then click on for more information, share to their stream or purchase.

Importing your products is more often the cumbersome part of the process, precisely the step that Payvment’s new API is meant to address. By attaching your Payvment app to a Facebook Page you are able to control what merchandise you sell on Facebook, at what price, with that promotion or discount. You have the option to change shipping settings (domestic or international), set a return policy and change the setting for weight and tax rates. The app also provides notification options so you know when you have activity. There’s also a Support tab on Facebook for any technical issues.

Currently Pavyment is free, the company does not take a cut of vendor sales and Taylor tells us that its users will be grandfathered-in if the company does decide to start charging in the future. Millions of Facebook shoppers drop money at the 40,000 Payvment Facebook store fronts and 200 new retailers launch daily, Taylor tell us, although he doesn’t provide more specific numbers. Search has been Payvment’s main focus as of late but discoverability is next on the list, Taylor adds, noting that the app is available in languages ranging from Hebrew to French to German. Mobile, other social networks and shopping cart systems may also be in Payvment’s future as Facebook.

Shopkick, a startup trying to pair location and shopping, has a new iPhone application out now that lets users earn Facebook Credits by walking inside retail businesses and scanning items.

Users obtain Kickbucks, the app’s virtual currency, when their phone receives a signal from a Shopkick in-store transmitter or scans a bar code. For example, you get 70 Kickbucks just for walking inside Best Buy. The process means check-ins can’t be faked like on other popular GPS-based location apps. The exchange rate is 25 Kickbucks to 1 Credit.

Shopkick has partnered with Simon Property Group, owners of 100 shopping malls, plus many Best Buy, Sports Authority and American Eagle stores to roll out their walk-in promotion. Shopkick’s hardware-to-mobile walk-in system was designed to work well in malls where a high density of businesses and low wireless signal can cause problems for GPS-based services. In the future, the app will reward users for walking to certain departments of retail locations. Users can also visit convenience stores or pharmacies and earn 25 Kickbucks for scanning bar codes of items including Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Tide detergent products.

Shopkick, which has raised $20 million in rounds led by Greylock Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufiled & Byers, is giving away Kickbucks to users even if they don’t go inside — simply using the app to view a profile of a business that you’re within 500 feet of will get you the currency. This helps engage users even if they don’t visit stores.

The app runs smooth and is fun to use, letting you level up, earn badges, a get your photo on the “wall” of a business’ profile. Facebook is used for login, but sharing and invite features on the app all route through email. When Kickbucks are redeemed for Facebook Credits through the app, the Credits instantly appear in a user’s Facebook account. One confusing point is the option to donates to “causes” — this isn’t related to the app developer of the same name, this is for Causeworld, a mobile app by the makers of Shopkick which lets users check-in to stores to earn donations.

By ensuring customers are actually inside stores and physically handling products, Shopkick offers businesses something worth incentivizing with discounts, gift certificates, and Kickbucks redeemable for Facebook Credits, donations to charity, DVDs and more. Shopkicks prevents gaming of the system by only allowing one Shopkick account per phone number and by limiting how often Kickbucks can be earned by walking into a certain location or chain, or scanning a specific item. Shopkick’s combination of security for businesses with quality incentives and fun for users could make it the killer location based loyalty app, all without having to tell people where you are.

Facebook ended this past spring with a bout of negative publicity due to some privacy changes. The company’s own data has suggested a slowdown in growth (and slight traffic fall in some age groups) in the US around the same time, but the cause of the drop wasn’t clear, and anyway, growth seemed to be back on track again in July.

But third party stats are less clear. Some web measurement firms show Facebook growing quickly in May and June, while others show growth coming in spurts — with a possible growth slowdown happening internationally (though data is scant).

Here’s a closer look at what comScore, Google Ad Planner, Nielsen, Quantcast, and Compete have told us since the last times we looked.

ComScore

In the US, Facebook rose from 121.8 million unique visitors in April to 130.3 in May, then 141.6 in June — these roughly double-digit increases are some of the highest we’ve seen yet. Rivals MySpace and Twitter didn’t rise or fall by much over the same period.

Worldwide, Facebook fared even better — at least for May. From 519.1 million in April, it went to 548.1 million the next month — but then grew by only a few million total. Given the increase in US traffic in the same month, comScore seems to be showing losses for Facebook in other countries. Note: comScore is one of the few measurement companies that offers worldwide data, and tracking traffic can be very difficult in some countries.

Google Ad Planner

We’re also beginning to look at Google Ad Planner, a service that uses Google’s own data analyzed together with third party data that Google brings in. The numbers like quite similar to comScore: Facebook had around 130 million US monthly unique users and 550 million worldwide over a 30 day period ending in mid-July. Ad Planner’s graphs show daily unique visitors, and for that stat, you can see a general growth slowdown for Facebook in the US and around the world over the last few months.

Nielsen

While the company doesn’t make worldwide data public, it has a data-sharing relationship with Facebook, and it does publish monthly information about US traffic. And here we see Facebook growing slower than in past months, going from 125.2 in May to 127.0 in June; continuing another trend, time on site also continued to slightly decrease.

Quantcast

Although it also doesn’t provide public worldwide numbers, Quantcast also shows Facebook hitting 130 million US uniques at the end of June, like comScore’s May numbers and Google’s more recent ones. But its long-term view of Facebook traffic is unique, showing relatively minimal growth this year, until things picked up in May. Meanwhile, MySpace continued to fall and Twitter continued to slowly grow.

Compete

And finally, we come to Compete, which already has July numbers available, too. Its story is familiar. Facebook went from 123.8 million uniques in May to 124.7 million in June to 128.1 million this past month. MySpace continued to list, and Twitter continued to grow a little.

Taken together, the firms generally tell a positive story about Facebook’s US traffic; although the privacy issues were an especially big deal to the media, politicians and others in this country, the impact is not obvious. Worldwide traffic details are scant, but they suggest that a similar growth slowdown may be taking place.

[Editor's Note: The following article presents analysis and data excerpted from Inside Facebook Gold, our research and data membership service tracking Facebook's traffic growth and demographic landscape in global markets.]

Each month, we’ve been digging up and reporting on the application demographics for international markets, focusing on Facebook’s biggest countries. For the past two months that has meant the United Kingdom and Canada, which are relatively similar to the United States.

Today, though, we’re looking a bit further afield, to Taiwan — a small island nation off China’s coast that nevertheless sends seven million monthly active users to Facebook (and that’s out of a total of 15.1 million Internet users in the country, according to 2008 estimates from the CIA).

Taiwan provides an interesting case study on East Asia’s social networkers. Although its users no doubt like to “stay connected to family and friends,” as Facebook’s motto proclaims, the real motivation for many to join Facebook, and return day after day, is the platform’s popular social games.

Not just “Facebook users,” the Taiwanese are first and foremost social game players; we get the distinct impression that if Facebook weren’t the platform, users would still find a way to connect to their favorite social games elsewhere. Thus, Taiwan gives a more accurate view than most other countries in that region of what the average social game user looks like, and how they engage with social properties on the Web. Due to both that difference and cultural variations, Taiwanese user demographics for games are sometimes quite different from nearly identical games in the West.

We chose three games for our sample: 德州撲克 (Texas Hold’em Poker) by Boyaa, 開心農場 (Happy Farm) by Five Minutes, and 開心 Lounge Bar by Happy Elements. These three play much like their poker-playing, farming and restaurant sim counterparts in the US, like FarmVille, Zynga’s Texas HoldEm Poker, and Restaurant City.

Unlike the American versions of those games, though, which often bring in many older users, Taiwan’s average age for all three games is impressively close, coming in at around 27:

(A note on methodology: to arrive at the average age, we used the means of each age group we measured.)

Another significant difference from Western app demographics comes up when comparing the gender distribution. While popularity between males and females did vary slightly between each app, they all showed fairly even splits where Taiwanese users were concerned.

It’s often said that the average social game player in the US is female and in her 40s. By contrast, Taiwan’s demographics suggest that Asia’s app users will be much younger, and include members of either sex — useful knowledge for both developers and marketers looking to reach certain groups.

Of course, averages can also be misleading. Our data on age splits for each of the three games, across six age groups shows some stratification in age distribution of Texas Poker players, while other games like Happy Farm, are seeing more even distributed. Complete data for this story is available via Inside Facebook Gold.

In the US and most other Western countries, farming games draw nearly twice as many women as men. Here, men have actually edged women out, 50.2 percent to 49.1 percent. Where women rule is in the more nightlife-themed game Happy Lounge Bar.

Some stereotypes do persist across cultures, though. Take note of the greater number of men playing poker, some 61.7 percent; Zynga’s own Texas HoldEm isn’t much different, at about 67 percent male to female (data for many more apps is available to AppData subscribers).

For companies hoping to work in Asia, it will be important to keep the subtleties of the audience in mind. As demonstrated above, there are significant variations in some user behaviors and relatively little in others; we’ll return to the subject in future posts to further define those differences.

The above analysis presents a sampling of the data that’s available through Inside Facebook Gold, Inside Network’s research and data membership service. Inside Facebook Gold also includes monthly global traffic stats, demographic data for over 15 of Facebook’s top country markets, and data on the site’s top languages worldwide. To learn more or join the membership, please visit Inside Facebook Gold.

ComScore’s latest Video Metrix numbers from July show that Facebook has climbed to third in the U.S. with 46.6 million unique video viewers, up 5.3 million from June. Facebook landed at number 3 right behind Google (YouTube) in first place with 143.2 million unique viewers and Yahoo with 55.1 million viewers.

In June, Facebook had 41.3 million unique U.S. viewers, according to ComScore, even as the company reported that same month that more than 20 million videos are uploaded monthly generating 2 billion video views during the same period around the world.

Overall ComScore reported that 178 million U.S. users — 84.9% of the Internet audience — watched videos online during the month of July for an average of 14.7 hours each. Google had the lion’s share of these viewers, 143.2 million with 1.8 billion viewing sessions for an average of 283 minutes (4.7 hours). Yahoo had around 55 million viewers with 238.3 million sessions averaging about 29 minutes while Facebook had over 166 million viewing sessions for its 46.6 uniques for an average of 18.3 minutes a pop.

The rest of the top ten list included, in order: Microsoft, VEVO, Fox Interactive Media, Turner Network, Viacom Digital, Disney Online and Hulu. Despite being lower on the list for unique viewers, several of these companies generated more and longer viewing sessions than Facebook. For example, Microsoft in fourth place had 219 million sessions averaging 40 minutes and VEVO had 202 million averaging 69 minutes.

Another interesting tidbit from ComScore this month is that the amount of time watching ads online is on the rise. Video ads averaging 24 seconds (.4 minutes) account for 9.8% of videos viewed and .9% of all minutes spent viewing online videos.