What is Zynga?

Looking to have a little fun with your social media? Tired of spending hours posting messages to your friends’ Facebook walls and just want to play games instead? Now you can do both thanks to the innovative minds at Zynga.

Zynga, named for one of the founder’s beloved dogs, was created by a group of fun-loving computer programmers in 2007 with a mission to make things a little more fun in the world. Since that time, they’ve become the biggest developer of socialized games on the Internet.

Most of Zynga’s games can be played on a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook and MySpace. People can also download the games to their iPhones for fun on the go.

Zynga’s game selection runs the gamut from casino-type games to strategy games. The company’s boasts some of the most popular games played on Facebook. Some examples include Vampire Wars, Farmville and Mafia Wars.

Vampire Wars was one of Zynga’s first hit games and relied on players recruiting their friends to join in to help players gain points and advance in the games. Mafia Wars and Farmville rely on much of the same premise.

Though these games continue to grow in popularity on social networking sites, some people complain that these sort of applications do more to annoy a player’s friends rather than draw them in. The founders of Zynga beg to differ, saying that the whole purpose is to help people bring some fun into their lives and that players don’t have to recruit their friends in order to play.

No matter how you view Zynga’s games, there’s no doubt that once you start playing it’s hard to stop. Just try to create a farm on Farmville and try not to visit it once a day to cultivate your crops and grow your empire.