Published on 04.02.2019 under Agency, News, Social Media
Social media trends 2019: with and not about the target group (part 3)
The overview:
- Influencer - reach through strong cooperation
- Video - A trend that continues and grows
- Google - Google+ dies, Google wakes up!
- The Dystopia - The flood on social media brings people back to the real world
- Games & Gamification: New possibilities - Programs and applications from other areas will open up new ways of interacting with the community in the future
5. Games & Gamification: New Possibilities - Programs and applications from other areas will open up new ways to interact with the community in the future.
When you talk about the topic of 'gaming', many people quickly reach the limit of their prior knowledge - and the gaming industry is booming. A by-product of the gaming industry is digital communication: "How can you communicate with each other when you are playing on different computers?"
This usually works with a simplified explanation: "There is a program on the computer for this". This is basically correct, but the tool can now do a little more than just transport our voices from one computer to the other. But what has changed since the advent of such programs?
With the advent of the Internet, the first games that could be played in multiplayer, i.e. with other players online, quickly followed.
In the first few years, players were only able to exchange ideas and organize themselves via forums; more advanced games made a chat area available in the game. All of this made communication possible only with a considerable delay.
In 2001 the TeamSpeak program took the stage. TeamSpeak was freely accessible to anyone who owned a computer with an Internet connection. The program enabled communication via voice chat while playing. Until 2015 there was relatively little competition for TeamSpeak. But that changed with Discord. In addition to providing a voice interface, Discord provided a strong focus on organizing groups. The features have been expanded continuously over the past three years.
Discord now has its own shop for video games and is used by the game developers as a direct mouthpiece to the community.
In many games with a strong focus on multiplayer, huge groups have formed on Discord in order to coordinate in the game, to meet at live events and in some cases to get in direct contact with the developers.
Both the players and the developers have recognized that Discord in particular offers the opportunity to get in touch with each other both short and long-term and, for example, to plan events. Another positive effect is the strengthening of the community's loyalty to the game, because: Almost everything is more fun together. Discord wants to push this development further and further develop the app. The functions of social media platforms are also increasingly being integrated. Starting with friends that you can add to a homepage with news (comparable to a feed on other platforms) that users could potentially be interested in. Further important information: Discord has a very low participation threshold. The program can be used as a desktop app, a smartphone app and in the browser. In addition, everyone can create their own Discord server. In the future, a platform that was once only designed for gamers could become an important interface between customer and manufacturer or service provider. At least the concept could continue to set an example and thus form an important interface in the participation of the target group.
We hope our little excursion was able to help and provide you with useful information. If you have any questions about our offers, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Would you like to work on your strategy in 2019 or produce target group-specific media such as videos? We are happy to advise and coach you in the conception and can accompany or take over every part of the media production. We have specialized in a particularly participatory approach, which we would be happy to explain to you in person. We are happily looking forward to hearing from you.
