Raptr Social Gaming Network

Raptr is social networking for gamers.

There are huge communities of gamers on Xbox Live, PSN, and other places... but they are in separate walled gardens. The social network Raptr aims to connect all of these different gaming communities, and to that end they've recently added a personalized news feed for gamers. It's a nice way to stay in touch with what's happening in the games you're interested in, without hunting down the news yourself.

Of course, you can share all of your achievements, but this is also a place where you can share anything that interests you. You can chat with your friends across gaming platforms, and mix and match your gaming buddies. It's perfect for gamers who are into more than one type of gaming. You play Xbox and PC Games? Raptr helps you cross the streams.

I'm sure it will also become a prime place for game marketers to connect with their customers. As yet, that opportunity is undeveloped, but I'm sure they'll get around to it. Gamers can enjoy the site for what it does today; marketers can look forward to what it will do tomorrow.

Engaging the Enemy

Activision finally seems to be awakening to the PR damage that's been caused with the firing of Infinity Ward leads and the subsequent dueling lawsuits. In a bold move, they have sent a blogger into enemy territory to engage the haters. Activision blogger Dan Amrich has been posting to a Facebook group set up by Activision anti-fans, attempting to calm the waters.

He may not succeed, but the effort itself will put Activision in a better light. And, as you can see by this post and others, it's bringing more publicity to Activision's attempts to not be perceived as jerks. The alternative is to turtle up and not say anything, which means other people get to define your position for you. Now, there are dangers in communication like this; you may make matters worse if you say the wrong thing in your attempts to answer jabs. You may also piss off your boss, too, as you attempt to minimize the statements the boss made. It's a tricky line to walk.

Ultimately, will this affect Activision's sales? Perhaps not; the number of people aware of anti-Activision sentiment must be a tiny percentage of their customer base. The greater danger might be to Activision's ability to attract developers or to cut deals for licenses or acquisition of development groups. At this point, you'd have to think any developer that was approached by Activision with an investment proposal would either say "No, thanks!" or ask for a lot more money. So the corporate image can be worth millions, even if doesn't matter much directly to the customers.

Bottom line: It's better to keep a good image than to try and rescue a tarnished one, but in either case the effort is worthwhile.

The Splinternet and Social Marketing

An excellent post from Josh Bernoff at Forrester Research talks about how the Internet is fragmenting into separate technologies. For marketers, this is also important because the Internet is less interconnected than it used to be for marketing messages. Already, Facebook walls off its network from search engines, so all the data that's flying around there is mostly not accessible from a search. Which is why you have to build a Facebook page for your product or company in order to build a brand among your friends and acquaintances.

It's going to mean that marketers have to stay abreast of the latest social networking and other technologies to make sure their marketing message gets out there as widely as possible. Social marketing is becoming a lot more work. Somebody has to spend their time on Facebook, in forums on enthusiast websites, on Twitter and MySpace and LinkedIn and Plaxo and... well, you get the picture. It's also true that you can't just hire someone at minimum wage to post standardized messages for you. That sort of marketing spam quickly gets filtered out; if not by software, then by the customer's attention filters. You have to have an authentic voice speaking knowledgeably about your product, and glib fact-free speech just won't cut it.

Marketing gets easier and tougher moving into the future. Thanks, technology! I think...