Social Media and Gaming - On the Collision Course
This presentation was delivered at the 2021 Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Innovation Lab in Las Vegas, Nevada. It marked Dan Zimmermann's first appearance at G2E and his first major industry presentation.
G2E Innovation Lab Presentation
Las Vegas, Nevada - October 2021
Transcribed via presentation video
Moderator:
All right, everybody—welcome back! How are we doing? Ready for some more innovation? Yes? All right! Well, please give a warm welcome. This is the first time this man has presented at our Innovation Lab, so make him feel welcome, make him feel loved. Social Media x Gaming on a Collision Course with Dan Zimmermann!
Dan Zimmermann:
All right, how's everybody doing? This is real loud.
So, this is my first G2E, my first time in Vegas, and I gotta say—I've been ID'd about a hundred times since I got here. So, looking forward to being up here and taking you guys through this.
Dan Zimmermann:
All right, so to set the stage here, I'm going to be talking a lot about gaming and social media, and I just want to set the definitions a bit.
When I talk about gaming, I mean not just the traditional power players in the industry, but also the fantasy products and startups on the periphery coming into the space.
When I talk about social media, I'm really keying in on the core four platforms listed here—and of course TikTok, which is rapidly growing.
The question I want to ask is really: How will gaming compete with the titans of the industry on social media for attention? Can they coexist? Can they thrive alongside each other?
Before I get into that, I want to give a little bit of background. Obviously, I'm up here, I'm young, it's my first time here, so I'll tell you where I come from.
I'm a 2020 Syracuse graduate. My background really comes from working with Barstool Sports for four years as president of the Barstool Syracuse brand. I also worked for Tiki Barber's startup, Thuzio, which was a live sports and entertainment content company.
So, a lot of my background comes in the mesh between social media and sports.
My dad was military, so I moved a lot growing up—spent time across the country and even outside the country. One of the few constants in all these moves was that social media was the way I stayed in touch with people and friends. I developed the same strong relationship with social media that a lot of people my age have.
In high school, I was looking for a way to build my résumé. I started a sports blog, thinking it would just be a little project. But it became my first foray into entrepreneurship. We built a following by creating controversy and common threads in Facebook groups. That's where I first saw the power of social media.
When I came to Syracuse, it was an adjustment moving over from London, coming back to the U.S., and being in college for the first time. I was lucky to be joined by my best friend, David Rosen, who's here in the crowd. We did everything together.
Freshman year, we were working on projects constantly. Big crypto guys—we had a mining rig in our dorm room using the free electricity. Typical kids, I guess.
Then an opportunity came when Barstool was launching college accounts. We turned that into a huge success with Barstool Q's. We were the first profitable college account, doing deals with local and national brands, working with athletes, even interviewing the quarterback at the local bar.
We were the quickest to triple our student population following. David and I really got to sit in our dorm room and sandbox out what people like and don't like—what makes this demographic take out their wallets. We built from zero to become the most influential account in Upstate New York, reaching not just students but also local fans of Syracuse sports and beyond.
That's where I come from, and that's why I want to talk to you today about how social media and gaming are on a collision course.
Social media has 295 million monthly active users in America. That's a crazy number. How do they retain those users? Nearly every action on a phone today is social. Originally, phones were just to call and text friends, but now almost every app involves communication.
What social media has done is cannibalize that energy by creating conflict to fuel engagement.
Some of you may have seen the documentary The Social Dilemma. It argues that social media hijacks users' brains to keep them active and involved. The best way they do that is by putting people in conflict.
No matter where you stand politically, certain images spark emotion [Shows image of Joe Biden and Donald Trump].
Or even something lighter: say, a controversial sports call [shows image of Tom Brady's return to New England as Buccaneer]
Social media finds people who disagree and puts them together. The algorithms reward negativity and conflict, which rise to the top.
That can leave people feeling like this [gestures to slide of angry person], or like this. You're doomscrolling, full of anxiety.
The internet is a town hall—but social media gives everyone a microphone and nobody a vote. When everyone's yelling, the loudest voice doesn't equal the consensus. Controversy equals virality—it doesn't equal accuracy.
And what does the user really gain? Right now—nothing.
But what if that could change?
Social media will never be replaced—but it can be innovated on.
What if a platform replaced the like button with your vote? What if people had the power to actually determine what trends?
People use social media not just to give opinions but to see what their peers think. Whether it's Celtics vs. Lakers, an election, or any binary disagreement, social media falls short of reflecting true public opinion.
Here's an example: ESPN posts an image asking "Yes or No?" But you can't vote—it's just an Instagram post. Or sometimes it's a sponsored poll that takes you to an external link. Nobody clicks those.
Yet interactive poll content is incredibly popular. Stories expire in 24 hours, but brands like FanDuel and SportsLine constantly use polls. The problem is, that data is meaningless. It expires, the sample size is small, and no one gets long-term insight.
So, what if social media felt more like a marketplace of public opinion—where the currency was prediction and accuracy, not likes?
That would look more like a town hall with voting booths and debate forums.
And that's where the collision of gaming and social media happens.
There's one thing missing from this town hall: an arena.
That's where my company, Verse Gaming, comes in.
About Verse Gaming
Verse is an immersive, peer-to-peer social gaming company built around channeling conflict into games.
- Our social arena lets users bet each other with no house juice—zero vig.
- Every bet is social—you can instantly share through the app, a link, Twitter, or text.
- Rivalries are born between friends, coworkers, Ohio State vs. Michigan grads, Yankees husbands vs. Red Sox wives, even Democrats vs. Republicans.
We're building from the ground up for public opinion. Debates, votes, and transparency—like seeing what your friends bet on.
And it's not just sports. It could be The Bachelor. It could be politics. It's built for any audience passionate about outcomes.
But isn't social betting already a thing?
Yes—Action Network, BookIt Sports, even DraftKings with social features.
But Verse is different. We're the first platform not built to take your money. We don't win when users lose.
So how do we make money?
Think about Facebook. 259M North American users, $82 per user in ad revenue, based on basic data points: age, location, gender, likes. But Facebook doesn't verify identities. Steve from Delaware might actually be Vladimir from St. Petersburg.
Verse collects the same data points—but better. Real verified users. Real-time opinions. Real prediction data. Budget sizing (do they put $10, $100, $1000?).
This creates an incredibly valuable dataset. And unlike Facebook, every account is verified. No bots.
So the collision course is this: Verse looks like social media in product design, but our revenue stream is closer to Facebook's targeted ads than a sportsbook's "house wins."
We're building the first immersive social network for betting, where you put your money where your mouth is—and advertisers get high-fidelity, verified, real-time data.
Conclusion:
Social media is due for an update.
In 2021 and beyond, gaming has the opportunity to capitalize on this evolution. My partner David and I look forward to spearheading that evolution with Verse Gaming.
Thank you.
Q&A
Moderator:
All right, now we've got to have some questions. That was fascinating. Who's got a question?
Audience Member 1:
Can you hear me okay? Thank you so much, that's super interesting and really exciting. Can you tell us a little bit more about the legality of this and how it works? Is it within some states? How are you able to do game-based betting versus player-based?
Dan Zimmermann:
Great question.
Whenever a startup enters this space, legality is a big concern. Obviously, we'd love to just call it a game of skill, put it everywhere fantasy is, and run—but that's not the case.
We're taking a layered model:
- A free-to-play baseline available in all 50 states.
- A fantasy model, operating in gray areas or licensed states.
- And then a fully licensed, direct peer-to-peer version.
We're pursuing all these avenues. We're also lucky to have Susan Hensel here in the crowd supporting us on legal strategy.
Audience Member 2:
Thanks again. Where are you guys in your fundraising process, and what does the general makeup of your team look like?
Dan Zimmermann:
Right now, we're very lean. It's just myself and David full-time—we've been at it for about a year since graduating during the pandemic.
We raised a pre-seed round last summer, about $200,000. And one of the reasons we're here is because we're raising our seed round now. We're looking to close that and bring the product to market early next year.
Moderator:
All right—any other questions?
(No response.)
Okay, let's give it up for this first-timer at G2E.
Audience applause
Moderator:
I think you'll be seeing a lot more of this guy.
Dan Zimmermann:
Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
