How to not use Social Media

Mike Maulbeck, an unknown video game developer decided to throw a tantrum on his twitter targetting the CEO and founder of one of the biggest game store platforms in the world. The issue was over one of their newly released games simply being mislabelled by an error. It was advertised as “early access” when the game was in full release. Regardless, even though a phone call or email could have fixed the problem, the developer decided to go to twitter to vent his frustrations.

How not to use twitter

As a result of this, their game was pulled from Steam. This is a massive blow, because Steam is almost a necessity for small developers. Essentially, that one tweet has ruined Mike’s credibility in the industry, as well as his company and his partners in the company.

This example really illustrates how important it is to really maintain yourself on social media. Social Media is a window to the outside world, and you cannot let your frustrations get the better of you. Venting on social media is the same as screaming out loud in front of a shopping centre full of people. The entire world can see what you write so you must conduct yourself civilly.

Had Mike simply posted about the issue with the Early Access on his game, the outcome will have been different. Valve would have fixed the problem and consumers would still be happy. Slanderous comments would not have been posted, and the game (which was expected to sell decently) would have netted a hefty profit for their company. However, due to a momentary lapse in judgement on social media, Mike’s credibility as well as his company’s credibility in the industry has all but been destroyed.

This isn’t the only example where a company has handled a situation poorly on Social Media. One that springs to mind is the Amy’s Baking Company scandal which had a similar impact, destroying an organisations credibility due to a few posts made on social media which were made in a moment of anger.

Amy’s Facebook Ability

Social media is a great tool when used properly. However much care needs to be taken, as the whole world is your audience. One wrong move could put your company into a crisis.

What examples of poor social media handling have you come across?

Steam

Steam. A platform that has evolved from a tool to launch a single company’s game to a massive platform used by countless developers to buy and play games from. It’s essentially your iTunes for video games. Steam is run by Valve Corporation, who have made some decent games in their own right. However, Steam never used to be used much let alone liked and now even preferred by most people. They did quite a few things correctly from a marketing perspective in order to get where they are today.

Steam Logo

Steam started out as a way for Valve to easily streamline and patch their games, primarily Counter-Strike 1.6, however has quickly transformed into what we know (and love) today. It’s evolved into more than that, and is now a social media platform, as well as a digital distribution, digital rights management and multiplayer platform.

The Steam Store is one of the biggest online stores for video games in the world, and that is in part due to their seasonally ‘Steam Sales’ that they host. During the Steam Sale, games go on sale for up to 60% off. These include popular AAA titles (games made with a massive budget and are usually pretty expensive, upwards of $60) to games developed by independent developers. These massive sales attract people to spend almost pocket change buying a game and getting involved with using their system. This not only draws in potential consumers, but also gets existing consumers to purchase a game they may not have intended to purchase due to how cheap it is compared to it’s original price.

Latest Steam Sale Announcement

Steam also led the way in developing social communities on its program. People can chat and add friends to play with on their games. Moreover, these friends can then recommend games to their peers on their friends list, write reviews and most importantly view what game their friends are playing. Furthermore, the chat interface allows you to chat with your friends while playing. More often than not I get asked questions about niche games I’m playing, and my friends get interested in giving Crusader Kings 2 a red hot crack.

Finally, Steam personalizes your store based on previous purchases. This relatively new initiative is called the ‘Steam Queue’ and essentially takes what you spend the most time playing and shows you games your peers have rated highly. This allows you to easily find games you may find interesting which makes it easier to shop using the Steam Interface.

Steam Queue

Have you guys ever used any platforms/websites for shopping which made it easy? What are your thoughts on these sort of platforms?