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Jambool, creator of Social Gold and former provider of virtual currency for Facebook games and web apps, was sold to Google for a reported $70 million. This follows the trend of game and social app providers LabPixies and Slide we covered here.

In a post about the Slide acquisition, I discussed how Facebook, which originally welcomed developers in 2007 with open arms by dangling the possibility of riches, changed the game and pulled the power back in, away from developers. But why did developers originally flock there? In a blog post, Paul Allen called it the “true spirit of Wikinomics”, explaining:

“Mark Zuckerberg made three big announcements. 1) Applications can be deeply integrated with Facebook 2) Distribution of the applications will occur through the network, and 3) The business opportunity Facebook is providing will give 100% of advertising revenue (for third party applications) and 100% of transaction revenue to the application developers.”

That move had a huge impact. First Round Capital, a venture capital firm, describes this step: “By providing a clear roadmap – and business opportunity – for the widget makers, Facebook has just increased its virtual R&D budget by over $250 million dollars.” First Round correctly predicted that companies like Slide, RockYou, and other developers would enrich the user experience and likely enrich Facebook.

One such company, Jambool, took on the task of building a virtual currency business on Facebook, facilitating the buying and selling of virtual goods and services for application developers. This gained them some traction with other app developers and helped to build a growing business.

But that was the past, and now, as Facebook has grown in size and influence, it has changed the rules. Just as Slide, RockYou, and others have seen their fortunes wane as Facebook grew more powerful Jambool literally had  the rug pulled out from under them once Facebook introduced credits and negotiated deals where these credits would be the exclusive virtual currency on the site. It’s no mystery then that Jambool was snapped up by Google.  Like Slide before them, Jambool’s market valuation and market viability took a hit when Facebook changed the game, making them more likely to embrace an acquisition by Google.

This expands the Google fold to include game makers, experts in viral widgets, social advertising, expression tools, and now virtual currency. What’s next? Who else has been hurt by Facebook changing the game? What gaps need to be filled in Google’s social strategy?

While there are many utility apps and games that fit the bill, the one missing piece are offers – the trend where users don’t pay directly for points, credits, or virtual goods directly, but instead they do tasks, trial products, or spend money on other things that get them what they want.

The two most obvious candidates in this space are OfferPal, which was flying high until the scamville problem we covered here and the choice by Facebook to use TrialPay and PeanutLabs for their offers. This dramatically cut OfferPal’s profile and instantly cast doubt on how big they could become, and now, with a reduced valuation but solid technology implementation, Google could pick them up and round out their portfolio. However, while OfferPal is one obvious choice, Google could also choose TrialPay – a successful, and less controversial, but smaller provider in the offer space. If Google was willing to be aggressive, they could buy TrialPay, which is the favored integration partner for Facebook and currently the main provider of offers that yield Facebook credits. Such a move, at the right time, could not only give Google a solid technology and team, but also temporarily disrupt Facebook’s ability to leverage offers for credits.

Google is building an army of technology,  social tools, and people to challenge Facebook’s dominance in social media. While it has successfully executed on many technologies, it’s only now buying the companies with the traction, experience, and the mindset to put the social back in Google. The only remaining questions are around their ability to they integrate the recently acquired companies and if/how they will move into the offers market.