I'm back!!1!!1! And I have a confession to make... I'm in love with Twitter. If I could marry the social network, I would. No, really, I'm almost serious.
Well, my obsession came as a surprise, because I used to be a nonbeliever. I'm going to quote my good friend @ohthewits here:
I used to be that person. I thought Twitter was for annoying people who wanted to let everyone know about every single second of their mundane lives, including yes - using the bathroom. But, more and more people (including myself) are realizing that Twitter really is so much more.
So why am I talking about Twitter on a gaming blog? Well, the platform plays such a huge role in media relations for the game industry, as well as other fields. I'll share what I mean exactly in relation to what I do at my internship.
From the perspective of a game studio, Twitter helps you connect with fans of your game and turn them into "brand evangelists." You can build a great community of players - and it's not just about them becoming your followers. Fans will retweet your content about the game and spread it through their own network of friends. Some will even talk about your game on their own, without you facilitating the conversation. Nothing is more powerful than word of mouth, and Twitter is by far the strongest online word of mouth.While you can control your own content, it's even more awesome to see how others promote on your behalf. I will note here that some people criticize Twitter, among other social media, for this. What if people start saying bad things about you? The thing is, choosing not to participate is even worse. People are going to talk about you whether you like it or not. It's a much better idea to jump into the conversation, contribute and attempt to fix people's misconceptions.
Another awesome thing about Twitter is how it connects you to people within the industry. My job at Trendy sometimes involves contacting game journos about game news, launches, updates, etc. and trying to build relationships with them. By the way, I don't know why I picked up this "game journo" abbreviation, so I'll apologize upfront for abusing the crap out of it :P
Anyways... when GamePro originally gave our game a pretty unfair and crappy review, a cool guy named Pete Davison, a contributing editor for the site, was given the task of re-reviewing it. I was able to show him the Trendy love for such a solid review via Twitter, and he showed some appreciation in return. It's that simple!I mean, sometimes the power of Twitter amazes me. I'm friends with Greg Hutto, a PR manager who works over at our publisher. One day, I retweeted some Dungeon Defenders praise from Patrick Lindsey, managing editor over at Pixels or Death that was retweeted by Mike Potts, the associate news editor. Greg noticed that the website had not written a review for us yet and mentioned it to Mike over the social platform. Upon looking into it further, he found that Pixels or Death was not on his PR list and immediately got Mike hooked up. Greg tweeted very humorously after the fact, and it really fit the situation perfectly:
Plus, Twitter is just plain fun! You get to put all of your interests in one place, and when it comes to gaming, that makes for some entertaining conversation.
So if you want to work in the video game industry, or just plain interested in the world, create a Twitter account. Also, check out Complex's feature "The 25 Raddest Game Journalists to Follow on Twitter" to get started. If you'd like even more people to follow, look into who those journos are following.
There really are some personalities out there, and honestly, it's awesome insight. You can find out what journos are playing, what they are reviewing and what they care about. Game journalists are traditional reporters in the sense that they are constantly reporting on news 24/7, but they also tend to greatly embrace social media and are much more informal. Twitter is also a good place to monitor the latest news, conflict and criticism. I can't tell you how many Twitter storms I've seen go down.
One of the people I really enjoy following as of right now is #3 on the above list - @JimSterling. Damn that guy has some opinions. And he's not afraid to say them. I also personally recommend @leighalexander, particularly if you are interested in gaming culture and equality trends.Also quick tip: if you use Twitter as a resource for work, I highly recommend TweetDeck. It lets you monitor multiple accounts and track different trending terms and searches through a multiple column format. Just another way to be even more of a creep :P
Oh and you can follow me @trendyentsarah or @girlinformer ;) Hope to see you in the Twitterverse!
Love,
The Girl Informer
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