In preparation for this project I began concentration with the company Steam, a game communications platform developed by Valve Corporation in 2003. While following Steam via social media systems (SMS), including Twitter and Facebook, there were various techniques utilized to grasp attention of their audiences. To assure a significant experience for their customers, both Steam’s Twitter and Facebook although different in their methods of rhetoric contained similar engaging content for their audiences. That is, a fairly constant stream of the latest details regarding discount sales and new available games for their users. A direct correlation between both SMS’s demonstrated that Steam remained consistent throughout their use of headings when distributing information. Before delving into further specifics, it is important to consider their potential audiences in determining their overall level of character and degree of success while using SMS’s.
While analyzing a potential audience that Steam may express to, a naïve observer may simply state they concern most to current and future gamers interested in PC and Mac gaming. Though this is certainly true, the atmosphere with gaming today has shown a dramatic change in the preferences of gamers, ranging from intensely diverse stylistic interface demands and stunning graphics, to distinct genres that speak to particular gamers. Assuming that the overall audience Steam attempts to network with is extremely diverse, and perhaps troublesome to analyze because of the mass variety of gamers within its culture, an audience analysis must be composed through both Steam’s use of Facebook.
To imagine their audience more clearly on Facebook, focus must be within Steam’s “…language, cultural referents, style, and so on that comprise online identity presentation” (Boyd and Marwick 115). At first glance Steam’s Facebook page contains a plethora of text, images, and comments from fans, and it is apparent that they are already fairly well popular with over one million likes. Scattered throughout their page various posts with appropriate images and text inform their audience of new deals and available games (see figure 1). In this post, the language used seems to be targeting those who are interested in pursuing a role playing game that makes references to real world locations and historical events, including the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople. The general attitude and style to this post is clear as with any large corporation attempting to sell products, produce revenue. Therefore Steam utilizes a noticeable heading, “Midweek Madness 50% off!” as an active link serving to direct the user to their main site where they can make a hasty purchase on the current sale. Much similar to this post, another post on Steam’s Facebook page not only demonstrates their lucid sales attitude, but also implicates the massively diverse gaming community (see figure 2). Here, Steam is informing their audience of a brand new game available with a brief description to what the game may be about. In this case, the game is worlds apart from the previous as you are now are a little orange alien abducted and taken to an underwater research facility. It may be difficult for Steam to specifically target all of the different branches of gamers, first person shooters, role-playing, action, puzzle, adventure etc. through their use of language, cultural referents, and style. While it is obvious that the gaming community and individual tastes are constantly expanding and may pose struggle for Steam, the vast gaming community certainly has a voice, and when an individual speaks out on their page, it allows for stronger customer relations, improves their company, and gains solidification to their overall online identity presentation through the use of SMS’s.
Because Steam is relatively popular on Facebook, the amount of incoming messages concerning positive feed back and complaints about games and their company is over burdening. However, in the article, “7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience with Social Media”, Dave Toliver’s number one is giving your customers a place to talk. That said, the following post entails a disgruntled user where after he purchased a game on steam, was not able to play the game (see figure 3). The user proceeds to mention that Steam’s customer support is terrible and could not help him at all. This is where Steam can take further action into addressing this issue, and any potential problems in the near future. As far as I know, I have not seen any posts through their Facebook or Twitter page that have addressed this type of issue. Although this is an issue Steam must certainly acknowledge, something they can continue to implement with their page is their interactive and engaging presence. Toliver suggests “…giving your fans a true voice on social media, or encouraging participation through photos and videos, you humanize the experience that much more” (Toliver). Steam does a magnificent job at this and is evident through their likes. Their page is riddled with comments, pictures, and videos with active links to more information (see figure 4). On the other hand, Steam’s Twitter page serves more as a means of quickly advertising their company.
Steam’s Twitter page is identical to its Facebook page in that it maintains consistent through its posts about discount sales and new available games (see figure 5). Steam seems to be tweeting quite frequently, and in almost the same persona and style as mentioned before with Facebook. I feel that because of the software limitations on Twitter where you can only post so many characters, it strictly prohibits Steam from allowing a more engaging and interactive interface where they can improve their online identity presentation. Overall, we have seen how active Steam is through their use of SMS’s regardless of their massively diverse audience. Their success is directly represented through their millions of likes and increasing user population. There is no doubt that Steam uses SMS’s well.
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