[Brody]

We've started a new group on Facebook called Gamers in the OtherVerse for new and old players of OtherSpace, Chiaroscuro, and Necromundus to connect.

If you'd like to join, just follow this link: Login | Facebook

[prof1515]

Nice to see I'm not the only one who has used Facebook for this purpose. Though I created the group in 2006, we've used it very little since we're not really open. Nevertheless, I think it's a good way of introducing MUDs to a larger audience.

[the_logos]

I don't think just establishing a group is going to do much to expose a game to a wider audience as it's mainly a passive thing and won't get shoved in front of people's faces much. People see it in a mini-feed when someone joins a group, and of course you can see what groups someone is in, but they are usually in a lot of groups so the exposure for an individual group on that list is pretty minor.

I asked Jeremy Saunders (Iron Realms's President these days) to make a post on TMS briefly explaining what Iron Realms has done to try and gain increased exposure beyond just creating a group, so I won't bother to explain it here beyond saying that it's a simple Facebook application that updates your mini-feed with events from in-game (such as gaining a level, winning a free-for-all, etc).

[Brody]

Originally Posted by the_logos I don't think just establishing a group is going to do much to expose a game to a wider audience as it's mainly a passive thing and won't get shoved in front of people's faces much. People see it in a mini-feed when someone joins a group, and of course you can see what groups someone is in, but they are usually in a lot of groups so the exposure for an individual group on that list is pretty minor.

Well, not for nothing, but according to my latest Google Analytics stats, we're getting more interest via Facebook in the past couple of weeks than we have from Top MUD Sites and The MUD Connector *combined*. So, I'm not going to be too quick to knock the potential of Facebook for reaching new blood. (Naturally, the real test is whether the interest via Facebook converts into new players - TMS and TMC still bring those to us just fine.)

[nass]

Yeah - that's what I've found with facebook referrals - the conversion rate tends to be quite low. Kind of understandible because you tend to be preaching to the "unconverted", so you have to get over that initial "huh, a text game?" barrier, which always causes dropoff. Still, if it brings new punters through the door, I wouldn't knock it

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by Brody Well, not for nothing, but according to my latest Google Analytics stats, we're getting more interest via Facebook in the past couple of weeks than we have from Top MUD Sites and The MUD Connector *combined*. So, I'm not going to be too quick to knock the potential of Facebook for reaching new blood. (Naturally, the real test is whether the interest via Facebook converts into new players - TMS and TMC still bring those to us just fine.)

Can you quantify those numbers? (so you don't think I'm asking for numbers without giving them, we've currently got 132 characters in Achaea's db that arrived from Topmudsites in the last month...however, since we nuke people after a few days who log in and quickly leave, it's likely more than that. It's a bit higher from Mudconnector, but we spend a lot more there than here).

I'm not saying, incidentally that Facebook groups won't bring users. It's so cheap/low effort to create groups that you may as well. I'm just suggesting that creating a group is maybe not, in and of itself, the best way to attract people from FB.

--matt

[nass]

Originally Posted by the_logos Can you quantify those numbers? (so you don't think I'm asking for numbers without giving them, we've currently got 132 characters in Achaea's db that arrived from Topmudsites in the last month...however, since we nuke people after a few days who log in and quickly leave, it's likely more than that. It's a bit higher from Mudconnector, but we spend a lot more there than here). --matt

I just wanted to comment on this, because it sorts of backs up the analytics I've got set up on my site. I have GA running in a very complex manner to analyse what works and what doesn't, which creates a "weight" per visit per site. TMC sits at 4.6 and TMS at 1.53 - bottom line being you're more likely to get a conversion from any individual visit from TMC than TMS. Which sort of backs up your spend.

On the other hand my stats will be skewed because I've only just put a link back up for TMS. I was previously convinced that the goal conversion for TMS was too low for it to be worth the hassle and although I suspect I was mistaken, it maybe that TMS has reached a bit of a saturation point, being more about converted users rather than unconverted. But I don't actually really know - I'll just assess the metrics once we've been near to or above the homepage fold for a while.

Fwiw, Facebook actually sits at 1.50. FB sends us diddlysquat - I havent really tried anything with FB for the MUD site I run.