How Gaming is Blurring the Lines Between Social Media and Business Communication

The gaming world has really received a huge spark in popularity over the past few years. It used to be that you would only see games advertised for the computer or gaming console. Now, it is not difficult to mistake an advertisement for a game for an upcoming movie. It is also rather common to see that a social networking site or a mobile device is the platform for which a game will be available.

Social Media & Gaming

It is almost impossible to be able to sign on to your favorite social media account without being swarmed by requests to join a friend playing Bingo, Words with Friends, Dice with Buddies, SongPOP, or one of the other many social media games that are currently available. Add to the fact that many of these games are not only available on the social media sites, but on mobile devices as well and you pretty much have a fail proof gaming plan.

The reason gaming has become so popular on the social media networks is simple. It is an easy way to advertise to an extremely large audience with minimal effort. Also, the limited amount of gaming that is offered for free by the developer will either force those interested in spending money on the game or will simply encourage them to return in order to be able to enjoy the game in the future.

Social Media & Business

Social Media is speculated to merge even more into your office communication in the future. It is going to take several years for this change to come about, but it you can see it happening all around. Skype shows the users their Facebook feed, RSS delivers news into your inbox, Gmail shows you Google+ updates and with Twitter emails being delivered on a daily basis it is only a matter of time before it is merged into you email client. The change is not just one way either; email clients like Sparrow has a Twitter style box to post show pieces of conversation like the now defunct Google Buzz.

Social Media, Business, & Gaming

You may be thinking where does gaming come into play when you are considering merging your business communication into your Social Media channels? Well the truth is that the gaming is already part of both worlds and could help the transition from one to the other. Businesses are looking to social media channels for additional awareness and potential sales which makes social media game with friends, fans and likes instead of points. One social media channel that best exemplifies that gaming can encourage additional business is Foursquare. Foursquare is basically a concentrated section of Facebook. You can check yourself in wherever you go in order to let everyone know where you are or where you have been.

This is great advertisement for local businesses for if you repeatedly go to the same pizza place every evening then it will continue to show up on your account and will encourage your followers to try it out. Foursquare will reward you with badges, recognition, or a fo-title of Mayor of a specific location if you frequent it often. This will encourage individuals to join and frequently check-in. These are the types of games that will draw the business attention to social media outlets.

There are a lot of benefits to communicating through social media channels including showing friend, clients and potential clients where you are and what you are doing. You will be able to access your communication no matter where you are, the format is built in order to be extremely easy to use, and you will be able to eliminate a lot of the spam that often plaques the inbox of your email. Only time will tell if this transition will actually occur, but it is looking like the benefits are far outweighing the drawbacks.