Lunchtime Discussion: Social Networks

Love them or hate them, social networks are pretty much hear to stay. Sure individual networks may rise and fall, we’ve just recently seen that Bebo is going to close, but the concept is certainly here to stay. As with any new technology companies are looking at how they can leverage it, and game developers and publishers are no different. Whether it’s integrating it into games or just using the medium as a new form of PR, pretty much everyone seems to be doing it.

Simply using social media for PR is by far the most common use, with most studios now having at least some form of  presence ranging from automated updates and repostings of content about the game, to fully fledged social media managers building a real presence on the networks. The latter obviously work better, with Microsoft’s Major Nelson and the team over at SEGA sticking out as some of the best examples of what you can do when you dedicate staff. Whilst I’ve never won anything, I’m a huge fan of SEGA’s free stuff Friday’s on Twitter where they give out some very cool promotional items from SEGA titles.

The integration of social networking into game is an entirely different matter. I’m not talking about the clients that have cropped up on the PS3 and the 360, that’s an entirely different matter. No I’m talking about games like Uncharted 2 and the upcoming Blur which integrate some of the functionality into the game itself. Sure Uncharted 2 didn’t seem to get it quite right originally, but once they tweaked the amount of Tweets it was sending and people set the options appropriately it kinda worked.

Blur’s system looks more interesting than the Uncharted 2 client, the game allows you to form and send a tweet based on what you’ve just done, but it’s not automated. The fact that it lets you control when, and to an extent what, you’re sending out into the ether is more along the lines of what I imagine most people want with this kind of integration. I really dislike services that automatically post stuff to my Twitter feed without my control, I want to be the one in sole control of what gets sent out to my followers.

Of course beyond just the use in games, there’s the whole question of if social networks are actually any good. What do you think? Do you love them or hate them? Would you like to see them used more in games and for PR, or would you prefer them to stay separate and free from PR pollution?