I have been using twitter for the past few years now and something that I realized is that it is a great way to keep up to date on everything game related. I have seen many fellow developers scoff at twitter. Most of the time people tell me it is a big waste of time. The thing is, yes it can be. But most of the people that struggle to make the best of twitter are doing it all wrong!
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One of the issue I encountered when I first joined twitter was that there is no real explanation of what to do, or how to begin building your network. It doesn't even explain how hashtags work or why they're important.
I spent the first few months just talking to myself. My tweets weren't reaching anyone and I didn't know why. |
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What I plan on doing is talking you through the basic steps of use. I am not going to tell you how to get a ton of followers, but I do intend on sharing some tips and explaining to you how hashtags work. If you're new to Twitter these tips will help you learn how to start finding and connecting to people.
For Game Developers?
When it comes to social networking you would be surprised to know that twitter has a very large community of game developers. There are indie devs (such as myself), industry vets, concept artist, animators, designers and everything in between.
In the last hour I counted 59 tweets using the hashtag of #GameDev and that was only in English! What I like about twitter is it's format. It trims what is unnecessary from social networking. It is all about getting an idea out and sharing it instantly with a community.
In the last hour I counted 59 tweets using the hashtag of #GameDev and that was only in English! What I like about twitter is it's format. It trims what is unnecessary from social networking. It is all about getting an idea out and sharing it instantly with a community.
Local Broadcast vs Tagged Tweet
There are two kinds of tweets you can make. There is what is known as Local Broadcast and then there is a Tagged Tweet.
Local Broadcast tweets are only seen by your followers.
A Tagged Tweet is a tweet that has a hashtag attached to it. This means that when someone searches for that hashtag (keyword) the tweet will appear in searches and can be seen by people who are not directly following you.
A tagged tweet is the best way to reach a wide audience and be discovered. It is also a good way to find other people that share similar interest wit you. In this case it would be other Game Industry individuals. |
Local broadcast is when you tweet a message that has not been tagged. This means the tweet is only visible to your immediate followers and is not likely to be seen in the search results of Twitter.
Adding a hastag allows your tweet to be seen in searches.
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To summarize this, imagine that local broadcast is like telling a room of people a message whereas tagging a tweet is like being on a soapbox on the side of a busy street. It is hard to reach people and build a network when you're tweeting to an empty room.
If you're attempting to network and share your work, you're going to want to tag your tweets so other people can find you. If you are solely using LB, you will find it hard to attract and find connections because no one can hear you.
If you're attempting to network and share your work, you're going to want to tag your tweets so other people can find you. If you are solely using LB, you will find it hard to attract and find connections because no one can hear you.
How to use Hashtags
Hastags are essentially keywords. Adding a hashtag to your tweet will make it appear in searches. People can click on a hashtag and they will be taken to the results of a search where they will see other tweets that have the same tag. Hashtags allow your tweet to be seen by everyone all over twitter.
A hashtag can be added by pressing shift + 3 on your keyboard. This will add the number sign to your word and if done correctly the word will turn blue and become a link. For a word to be properly tagged it needs to be one word. For example, tagging #Game Art is incorrect because only the word Game would be tagged. You would need to write it as #GameArt for it to properly appear in searches.
A hashtag can be added by pressing shift + 3 on your keyboard. This will add the number sign to your word and if done correctly the word will turn blue and become a link. For a word to be properly tagged it needs to be one word. For example, tagging #Game Art is incorrect because only the word Game would be tagged. You would need to write it as #GameArt for it to properly appear in searches.
For Example:
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I composed a tweet that simply said "Check out my Oscars". I then added the tag of #Aquarium and attached the URL of my video.
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The search results.
Now that my tweet is live I can click on the hashtag or type into the search bar the tag (#Aquarium) and it will take me to the search results with every tweet that has the same tag.
Pro Tip: Click on a game related tag to find people in the game industry.
Pro Tip: Click on a game related tag to find people in the game industry.
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We might not want to see every tweet there is. By default the twitter search is set to "Everything".
If we wanted to just find my video or even other videos we can specify out search by selecting the "Videos" option in the sidebar to the left. |
Tip: Use this feature to find People,photos, videos and etc.
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We now see the same search results list, but now it has been narrowed down to only include tweets that have the tag #Aquarium and a video.
If we were to apply this to a game related tag, such as #ConceptArt or #GameDev we would come across relevant tweets, photos and videos. This helps us find users and groups and users that we would want to follow and connect with.
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Retweeting
Shout out to the guys at Word of Level Design.
Retweeting is the act of forwarding a tweet. So think of it this way, someone tweets something such as "Great article on new modeling techniques" and they have 100 followers. Now if you go to their tweet and select the Retweet function you will now tweet that tweet to your followers, and if you have 100 followers that means it has reached 200 people.
Retweeting is a great way to help a tweet build momentum, It helps the original tweet get more exposure. It is always a good idea to RT (Retweet) something that you want your followers to see, such as a great article,tutorial, video or portfolio.
Retweeting is a great way to help a tweet build momentum, It helps the original tweet get more exposure. It is always a good idea to RT (Retweet) something that you want your followers to see, such as a great article,tutorial, video or portfolio.
Who to follow?
When you're new to twitter and you you're just starting to build you're network you might not know where to start. There are plenty of people, studios and developers to follow. Where do you start? I made a simple list of people to follow to help build your network and provide you with the industry info you will need.
Daily Hashtag Specials
On certain days of the week there are special hashtags that you can use to connect and network with other game industry people. Here are two of the best ones that I have used to network with.
An example of what a Follow Friday tweet would look like.
Screenshot Saturday - Every Saturday it has become a tradition of sorts to tweet a screenshot of something you are working on with the hashtag #Screenshotsaturday. It can be a new level you're designing, an environment, Zbrush model or even a short video.
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Follow Friday - Follow Friday takes place every Friday. This involves the act of tweeting out #FF followed by the twitter name of the person or persons you would like others to see and follow.
Pro Tip: Use Follow Friday to discover new people and to promote and recommend other developers in our community.
A typical Screenshot Saturday tweet.
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Tip: Do not tweet images of your work if you're under an NDA. Tweeting an image of a game that is in development may be a violation of company policy and may result in your termination. Only tweet images of your personal work.
Useful #Hashtags for Game Developers
Use these hastags when you tweet.
When you're tweeting about your work, there might just be a hashtag for it. Do you want to discover some art? Do you want to find some interesting people to follow? Well check out some of the tags listed above. These tags are all used by people in the game and animation industry.
The hashtags you use are not just limited to these. You can get more specific when you search and tweet. You can search for something such as #EnvironmentArt and #Maya and that will narrow down the search and help you find people and images relating to environment art in Maya.
The hashtags you use are not just limited to these. You can get more specific when you search and tweet. You can search for something such as #EnvironmentArt and #Maya and that will narrow down the search and help you find people and images relating to environment art in Maya.
Tip: Don't just Retweet and read, share! Be a part of the community!
Twitter is a great way for a game developer to network. Everyday, every hour there are people talking about games, learning and sharing new technique or being inspired. The game industry has a very big presence on twitter and for an artist, student or veteran it is a great way to stay informed and grow.
- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
@Dannylv100
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