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????一個名為“我拍”（Shots Of Me）的社交網絡即將于本周晚些時候上線，目標用戶定位為青少年群體。打造這個網絡的團隊曾用洛克萊（Rocklive）這個廠牌開發過風靡一時的社交類手機游戲，而洛克萊最新的幕后金主可能是當今世上風頭無兩的青少年巨星——賈斯汀?比伯。 ????《財富》雜志（Fortune）獲悉，這間公司剛剛從賈斯汀?比伯那里獲得了110萬美元的種子期投資，其他的投資者還有風險投資人舍文?皮西弗，拳擊手佛洛依德?梅懷瑟和天使投資人湯姆?麥金納尼。這不僅是比伯初次投資社交網站，也是他第一次獨立于經紀人斯庫特?伯勞恩，完全自主進行的一次風險投資。 ????“自從賈斯汀玩了我們的游戲，還在Twitter上說過這事之后，我們就開始知道他了，”約翰?沙希迪說。幾年前他和兄弟薩姆一起成立了洛克萊，現在他在公司擔任CEO。“賈斯汀非常深入地體驗著我們的產品，還幫助我們進行測試，也給我們提供反饋……后來我們告訴他我們正在找機會做一個面向青少年的社交網絡產品，目的在于讓青少年用戶分享其他網站上很少見到的信息，同時我們也會盡量妥善處理網絡霸凌的問題。聽到這些，他的眼睛亮了。” ????“我拍”將于本周晚些時候在蘋果商店上架，沙希迪拒絕向我們透露更多關于這個應用的細節，僅僅表示，它不會是一個游戲應用。“我們確實很享受制作游戲，也賺了不少錢，但這次絕對是完全不同的新東西。” ????事實上我們十分期待看到比伯的個人影響力會給這款應用帶來多少的下載量和使用量，目前他在Twitter上有4,650萬名關注者，這個數字擊敗了地球所有Twitter用戶（除了女歌手凱蒂?佩里，他們的關注者數目幾乎相同）。洛克萊公司從未用傳統途徑開拓過市場——既沒有雇用過公關公司，也沒有召開過新聞發布會。他們的營銷策略是在網絡上通過用戶建立口碑（比如在以往發布的游戲中，鼓勵/允許玩家們在不退出游戲的情況下直接分享自己在游戲中獲得的成績）。
????洛克萊公司現在已經募集到270萬美元的種子基金，同時也在接洽多家風投公司，籌集第一輪機構投資。（財富中文網） ????譯者：倪禮雯??? |
????A new teen-focused social network called Shots Of Me will launch later this week, from the team that previously developed popular social mobile games under the RockLive brand. And its new lead investor is perhaps the world's most famous teenager: Justin Bieber. ????Fortune has learned that Bieber recently led a $1.1 million seed round for the company, whose other investors include venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, boxer Floyd Mayweather and angel investor Tom McInerney. It not only is Bieber's first-ever investment in a social network, but also is believed to be the first time he has made a VC investment independent of his manageer Scooter Braun. ????"We got to know Justin after he began playing our games and tweeting about it," says RockLive CEO John Shahidi, who founded the company several years back with his brother Sam. "He's been very involved in our products, helping us test things and providing feedback… When we told him that we were looking to create a social network for teens that really addresses what they aren't getting on other networks, and which tries to deal with things like cyber-bullying, his eyes just lit up." ????Shahidi declined to provide too many details about Shots Of Me, which will be released into the Apple store later this week. He did say, however, that it will not have a gaming focus. "We've really enjoyed making games, and have made a lot of money doing so, but this is something new." ????It should be interesting to see how Bieber's influence will affect downloads and usage. He currently has 46.5 million Twitter followers, which is more than anyone else in the world (save for fellow singer Katy Perry, with whom he is effectively tied). RockLive has never used traditional marketing methods – no PR firm or press releases, for example – instead relying on digital word of mouth from users (in its past games, users were encouraged/enabled to share accomplishments without leaving the actual game). ????RockLive has now raised a total of $2.7 million in seed funding, and is beginning to pitch VC firms on its first institutional funding round. |
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