Superpoke! is a Facebook and MySpace application originally created by Nikil Gandhy, Will Liu and Jonathan Hsu.[1] It was launched within a month of the creation of the Facebook Platform. Slide.com acquired the application, along with the trio, in 2007 and grew the application to become the most monthly active users Facebook application at one point.[2] The application mimics Facebook's own "poke" feature, but adds new features such as the ability to smile, wink, slap, and smack friends on Facebook. The application previously also allowed users to virtually 'stab' a friend; Facebook later asked Slide.com to remove this option from the application.[3]
SuperPoke! differentiated itself from other applications by introducing characters such as a sheep, chicken and penguin. These characters were originally designed by Kevin Ho.
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Slide.com later capitalized on the popularity of the SuperPoke! brand by creating SuperPoke! Pets (also known as SPP), which allows users to take care of virtual pets. This encourages kids and adults to interact with virtual games and taking care of a 'spp pet'. Players are given the ability to customize their characters' looks, home and much more.[4] Slide's VP of product Mike Huang and designer Kevin Ho made a conscious decision to be consistent with the artwork and style. They used the same characters created in SuperPoke! for the animals users can adopt in Pets. They used the same style for items users can purchase in game. UI/UX kept to be simple and straight forward. As SPP became the most lucrative property Slide has, they created two other games under this brand: SPP Top Fish and SPP Ranch.[5]
SuperPokePets! launched April 2008 to social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Hi5. Slide soon after acquired the app, and added new features to the early app by first releasing gold items in which an app owner could buy gold bars with real money and earning them a badge as a thanks for helping them support the game. In early December 2008, SuperPokePets started work on their own website titled Spp.com or SuperPokePets.com which gave all spp owners on all social networking sites a choice of becoming an spp member for free, so that members could unite into one whole community, customize their own profiles with their existing pets from the social networks, and to participate in activities such as gifting, trading, and taking part in features the network apps did not offer.
Following more success, Spp held decorating contests where famous celebrities such as Ashley Tisdale and Keith Urban came to promote their albums such as Tisdale's Guilty Pleasure and Urban's Defying Gravity. Winners were awarded special badges and a copy of the CD.
In August 2010 Slide was acquired by Google and almost a year after, Spp announced drastic changes including removing Gold buying, quests, and updates to the games features, due to the game finally reaching the point where it could grow on its own.
On September 2011 Spp announced that the website will be shut down and go offline March 6, 2012.[6]