It is clear that the weekend in Gran Canaria was very productive; both @rafalopezdiez and I have several things in common, one of which is our concern regarding the development of relationships within the entertainment environment in the form of video games, communities, and meeting spaces…
We were discussing something that personally piques my curiosity: the synergy between community management, video games, and the mobile environment. That weekend, we discussed not only the social networks that already have mobile applications—which is almost all of them—but also those communities that have grown within the medium itself and are designed specifically for it, such as Foursquare; although they clearly have a website, we should look at the usage percentages.
The inclusion of smart devices, along with the shift in relationships with gaming (passion for poker), new online mini-games, and review and opinion communities also based on geolocated technology, presents us with a new stage that we wish to continue “exploiting.”
Speaking with Rafa—who was the first iPhone app developer in Spain, so he knows a great deal about this, a regular collaborator with minijuegos.com, and an expert in telematic security—well, we were discussing how the two of us could analyze how communities and their management in mobile environments interest us.
Today I read in El Mundo about a new profession in high demand in this new environment: video game designers. I know a few, and this week I am interviewing one of them, Rafael, a video game designer for minijuegos.com.
He has had to adapt to new technologies almost before they were released; furthermore, the change in environment alters not only the technology but also the conception of the game itself—new sizes, new usage patterns, duration… He will be able to explain it to us better.
At this point, I want to analyze the use that minijuegos.com has made of its community—which is GRANDIOSE, let’s not kid ourselves. On one hand, it is worth noting that they have been, and continue to be for many years now, the most visited mini-games page in Spain and parts of Latin America.
Well, they have known how to perfectly exploit advertising; that is to say, they were among the first to monetize their community. For several months now, they have had a presence on social media so that the relationship with their followers does not end when a “game over” appears on the screen; it continues beyond the forums and blogs where tips are shared…
They have their Facebook page; in a future post, we will interview Pablo Cenalmor, CEO of minijuegos.com, so he can tell us about his experience in the company’s new adaptation of the product to this changing reality.
In the case of community managers for web-based communities, we have already studied the matter, but for mobile environments, we would also need more than just adaptation to new devices; we would also need to see… one case is the Radian6 monitoring tool, which not only has mobile alerts but also its own control panel for smart devices, which is very useful for timing and mobility…
Regarding management tools for mobile-specific communities, we need to see what we have available and what cases exist in the rest of the world. We will be analyzing, on one hand, security, the danger of viruses in mobile software, APD with phone numbers, and the consequences this will have on mobile communication.
