Zynga, the social-gaming giant, announced Tuesday that it has acquired the team from MarketZero, a poker services provider.

Zynga, the maker of FarmVille, CityVille and other popular social games, says it only hired the MarketZero staff, though, and it won’t operate or acquire MarketZero’s business. “This acquisition leverages the knowledge and expertise of the team,” Zynga said in a statement.

MarketZero, with its PokerTableRatings, hosts “the largest online portal tracking career statistics of online poker players,” Zynga says. The PokerTableRatings staff wrote in a blog post that members shouldn’t see any difference on the site. “PTR hasn’t skipped a beat and we’re working hard to make sure PTR continues to be the best place to find stats on every online poker player,” PTR says.

In the past year, Zynga has seen tremendous success and growth. It acquired 11 companies from around the world in as many months. And Monday, Zynga announced DreamWorks co-founder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg was joining the social-gaming company’s board of directors.

Zynga is also rumored to be considering an IPO in 2012.

More About: MarketZero, Zynga

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Fans of Brooklyn’s TV on the Radio have been waiting for the band’s next disc since 2008, when its last album, Dear Science, dropped. Now Rhapsody subscribers can check out Nine Types of Light before its April 12 release.

Rhapsody isn’t the only outlet to feature the album early — The Guardian is streaming it today, too — but the portability that Rhapsody offers is certainly enticing.

The music subscription service is also offering a ton of editorial content, including videos, the band’s responses to subscriber questions, and other interviews and tidbits.

More and more, bands are releasing music via alternative distribution channels, such as Rhapsody, which has also premiered music from artists like Jack Johnson, The Black Eyed Peas and Zac Brown. Other services, like Spotify (which premiered R.E.M.’s last album, for one), have had similar initiatives, and Facebook has afforded fans early looks at music from the likes of J-Lo and Lil Wayne.

Rhapsody users: Let us know what you think of TV on the Radio‘s efforts in the comments. In the meantime, here’s a single from the disc, courtesy of Soundcloud:

TV On The Radio – “Will Do” by Interscope Records

Image courtesy of Flickr, angela n.

More About: music, rhapsody, tv-on-the-radio

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Self-hosted WordPress users, fire up your update engines because WordPress 3.1.1 is now available.

WordPress 3.1.1 might not bring any new functionality to the popular content management tool, but it does fix a number of bugs and potential security issues.

These are the new changes the WordPress team announced on the official WordPress blog:

• Some security hardening to media uploads
• Performance improvements
• Fixes for IIS6 support
• Fixes for taxonomy and PATHINFO (/index.php/) permalinks
• Fixes for various query and taxonomy edge cases that caused some plugin compatibility issues

WordPress 3.1 was released at the end of February and has already been downloaded nearly 4.5 million times.

Users that aren’t experiencing any issues with WordPress 3.1 should still update because the latest version does address three security issues discovered by the WordPress security team.

Users can download by either using the built-in update tool or by going to WordPress.org/download.

More About: WordPress, WordPress 3.1, wordpress 3.1.1

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If you’re in a band that lacks a kick-ass drummer (most members of the chillwave persuasion say, “Aye!”), you’re in luck — you can buy Devo’s session drummer for a mere $75,000.

In order to hype his new album, My New Friends, Josh Freese is offering up a stellar package for devoted fans. It includes: 1). Freese’s services as a drummer for one month, 2). One of his drum sets, 3). A Freese-penned, five-song EP written about “you,” 4). The chance to take Shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from Tool’s Lamborgini, 5). 500 copies of My New Friends, 6). A trip to purchase matching outfits at Tommy Bahama’s and “make everybody very sad.”

Less expensive (and rad) packages include the album for $5, a $50 offering that includes a personalized call from the musician, and tons of other packages of varying prices stuffed with gear and interactions with Freese.

This isn’t the first time Freese has offered up a bizarre package of this sort. According to Wired, he marketed his 2009 disc, Since 1972, by offering fans such goodies as a miniature-golf session with drummer and his musician friends. The new disc features songs about fans who ponied up the cash to meet the artist in 2009.

This stunt seems a perfect fit for a musician who has played with Nine Inch Nails (as we all know, Trent Reznor is really into freemium packages) and Devo, who crowdsourced its last album in a highly tongue-in-cheek way.

Wealthier readers: Would you fork over $75,000 to chill with Freese?

Image courtesy of Flickr, colin.brown

More About: devo, freemium, john-freese, MARKETING, money, music

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

While Facebook marketing is on the rise among small businesses, many are still struggling to master the basics.

“Many people have difficulty with just the basic Page set up,” says social media marketing consultant Nicole Krug. “For example, I still see people setting up their business as a profile page instead of a business Page. I have other clients who jumped into Groups when they came out and have divided their fan base.”

Here are five more common Facebook marketing mistakes to avoid:

1. Broadcasting

Ask any social marketing consultant what the number-one no-no is on Facebook, and he’ll likely tell you it’s “broadcasting” your messages instead of providing fans with relevant content and engaging on an continual basis.

“With Facebook, marketers of any size can do effective, word-of-mouth marketing at scale for the very first time. But Facebook is all about authenticity, so if your company is not being authentic or engaging with customers in a way that feels genuine, the community will see right through it,” says Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta.

Peter Shankman, social media consultant, entrepreneur and author of “Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World,” agrees.

“Your job is to interact, not just to broadcast,” says Shankman. “Fans are looking for a reason to connect with you, and they’re showing you that by clicking ‘Like.’ Your job is to give them a reason to stay.”

According to Andy Smith, co-author of “The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change,” many businesses immediately ask how Facebook is going to make them money and have that be the focus, as opposed to trying to engage customers and provide a meaningful, authentic online experience. “Marketers need to recognize that people go to Facebook to make a connection or feel like part of a community,” says Smith.

2. Not Investing Adequate Time

Another common mistake is underestimating the amount of time a successful Facebook strategy entails. Many social media consultants report seeing a pervasive “set it and forget it” mentality among small businesses.

“Some small business owners are under the impression that if they set up a Page on Facebook, that’s all they have to do. They think people will just naturally come and want to be a fan of their product or service,” says Taylor Pratt of Raven Internet Marketing Tools. “But it takes much more of a commitment than that.”

It’s not just fan growth that will suffer from this approach — it may also hurt your relationships with existing fans, particularly customers who have come to expect timely responses to their posts and queries.

“Unlike traditional advertising methods such as a radio spot or a Yellow Pages listing, you can’t just create a Facebook Page and just let it run its course,” says Alex Levine, a social media strategist at Paco Communications. “Creating a Facebook Page is the first of many steps, but the Page needs to be updated and monitored constantly.”

3. Being Boring or Predictable

When they’re thinking about marketing, some business owners forget that Facebook is a social place where people share things they find funny, interesting or useful with their friends. Think about what kind of content your fans would actually want to share when planning your posts.

Shankman also cautions against becoming too predictable. “Status updates by themselves get boring. But then again, so do photos, videos and multimedia as a whole. Your job is to mix it up. The moment you become predictable, boring or annoying, they’ll hide you from their feed. So keep it varied and personal — a video here, a photo here, a tag of one of your fans here.”

Creating too much “filler” content by auto-publishing content from your blog or Twitter feed can also derail your efforts. Joseph Manna, community manager at Infusionsoft, recommends using Facebook’s native publishing tools to gain the most benefit from Facebook.

“Whatever you do, DON’T automate everything,” says Manna. “It’s nice to ‘set and forget,’ but the risk is two-fold: publishing systems sometimes have issues, and Facebook places low-priority on auto-published content.”

4. Failing to Learn About Facebook Mechanics and Tools

Since Facebook is a relatively new medium, some businesses have yet to explore all its functionality and they’re missing out on creating an optimal brand experience.

“Many small businesses do not take advantage of the tools to introduce themselves to the Facebook audience,” says Krug. “For example, the ‘Info’ tab is rarely utilized well, and very few small businesses [create] a custom welcome page.”

Krug also sees frequent mistakes around one of the most basic elements of Facebook presence: the profile image. “Most companies upload a version of their logo, but the resulting thumbnail image that shows up in news feeds often only captures a few letters in the middle of their logo — this partial, meaningless image is then how they’re branded throughout Facebook,” says Krug.

Facebook Insights, Facebook’s built-in analytics system, is also often overlooked, and with it the opportunity to analyze post-performance to see what types of content gets the most engagement.

5. Violating Facebook’s Terms

Not only is it critical to know how Facebook works and what tools are available, it’s also important to know the rules of the road — something that many businesses miss.

“Every day I see organizations endangering the communities they are growing by violating the terms they agreed to when their Facebook presence was created,” says small business marketing consultant Lisa Jenkins.

What are the most common violations? Some build a community on a personal page instead of a proper Facebook Page. Others fail to abide by Facebook’s rules around running contests. And don’t even think about “tagging” people who are in an image without their permission.

“Tagging people to get their attention is not only a violation of Terms but can be reported by those you are tagging as abusive behavior on your part — which brings your violation to Facebook’s attention and opens your Page’s content to review,” warns Jenkins.

To avoid these common mistakes, invest time in learning about the Facebook platform, educate yourself on how to build and sustain an audience, and don’t forget to engage with people like you do in real life.

“What sets small businesses apart from large companies is their ability to make personal connections with customers,” says Ben Nesvig of FuzedMarketing. “They tend to forget this when they join Facebook, yet it’s their biggest strength and asset.”

More Facebook Resources from Mashable:

– 4 Ways to Set Up a Storefront on Facebook
– HOW TO: Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Website
– The Future of Social Search
– 5 Creative Facebook Places Marketing Campaigns
– Dog: Man’s Best Facebook Friend, Too? [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Check out this little tsunami victim, a dog that somehow stayed alive on a floating pile of rubble with a roof on top for three weeks before the Japanese Coast Guard rescued him.

If a dog can stay alive under these conditions, couldn’t a human? That’s an important question, because there are still 18,000 tsunami and earthquake victims missing in Japan, with little hope for their survival.

How did this dog stay alive? While dogs and humans can survive for three weeks without food, they can’t go longer than a couple of days without water. Floating in the ocean off the coast of Japan, the dog was surrounded by salt water, but like a human in the same situation, that wouldn’t have kept him alive — according to the Department of Energy’s Ask a Scientist website:

Humans can’t drink salt water because the kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking salt water, you have to urinate more water than you drank, so you die of dehydration.

It must have been a rainy three weeks aboard this ragtag vessel, where small collected pools of fresh water must have kept the dog alive.

It’s probably too late for more survivors to be found, but it’s not too late for you to help earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. Here’s how.

More About: Coast Guard, dog, japan, Rescue, Survivor, tsunami, video

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