Twitter, Reddit Drive More Gamer Engagement than Facebook

While Facebook has become the major driver of social sharing in general, the network generates less engagement than Twitter and Reddit when it comes to gaming, according to ShareThis.

The company’s new study, which is based on 156 billion social signals related to video games throughout June of this year, shows that 27 percent of gamers share video gaming content on social. They are three times more active on Twitter and twice as active on Reddit, compared with the general population.

“Facebook always drives the majority of shares in general. But Twitter is a much more active platform for the gaming community because its newsfeed format can usually generate high engagement. Reddit is an effective platform, as well, because it allows users to curate content around a specific subject, such as gaming,” says Vivien Pillet, product manager for ShareThis. “When marketers target gamers, they need to customize content that suits the two platforms, respectively. For example, marketers may need to create fascinating snackable content or news updates on Twitter, while they may need to post more in-depth discussions about gaming to Reddit.”

Pillet adds that as the gaming population is growing, it’s more important than ever for marketers and advertisers to understand who the gamers are, what they play and what video gaming content they share on social networks.

The study shows that Xbox-related content is the most shared, representing 42 percent of the total social volume, followed by Playstation, PC and Nintendo. However, Nintendo gamers share 39 percent of all video gaming content, compared with PC gamers’ 36 percent and Xbox gamers’ mere 17 percent.

With a controller-in-hand, gamers also prefer desktop to mobile. According to the study, 65 percent of sharing takes place on desktop.

Understanding the nuances of gamers’ social sharing behaviors could help marketers connect with the right gamer with the right message, says Pillet.

“Gamers shouldn’t be generalized and marketers shouldn’t underestimate social purchase lift,” he says,a dding that gamers who share are 1.6 percent more likely to purchase what they share about.

Homepage image via Shutterstock.