Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Mallika Sherawat, Vivek Oberoi and Riteish Deshmukh invite fans to play social games with them on ibibo.com.
First,they clinged to their privacy like bees to their honeycombs. Then they opened themselves up on social networking sites. Now,going a step further,celebrities have started playing popular social games with their fan clubs. Celebrities have been utilising social networking sites in a big way to connect with their fans and promote their movies,albums etc. But having been active on blogs and social networking platforms for long,celebs are now turning to a new fangled way of connecting with their fans-Social Gaming, Rahul Razdan,President,Products and Operation,ibibo Web Pvt. Ltd. said.
Razdan acknowledges that celebrities prefer games that already have a set user base. No celebrity will join a game that has just been launched. They need to interact with their fans. The games they choose reflect this trend. Celebrities prefer established games like Mumbai Underworld and Great Indian Parking Wars which have lakhs of players, Razdan said. There is no set frequency for this interaction. The celebrity sometimes put up a notice on their profile announcing when they will join their fans to play a particular game.
According to him,such interactions mutually benefit the celebrities,the website as well as the players. We get a lot of traction when a celebrity starts playing a particular game while celebrities get to directly interact with their fans. Fans,who cannot get close to celebrities on social networking sites,feel personally connected to their idols as they can chat and strategise with celebrities. It8217;s a win-win situation for everyone involved, Razdan affirmed.
The huge amount of traffic generated on account of celebrities is generally attributed to star-struck fans from B and C grade cities and rural areas. However,Razdan denies this charge. We get between 11 to 12 million gamers every month. Half of the total traffic we receive comes from urban cities. We want to maintain our 50:50 ratio between urban and rural areas, he said. Razdan,however,conceded that ibibo was roping in regional stars and television actors apart from Bollywood celebrities to push their social gaming arena. Popular faces such as Vindu Dara Singh,Shakti Mohan and Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishen are already part of this initiative. Different celebrities have different appeal in different areas. We want a good mix of celebrities. If the ratio gets lop-sided then it will become difficult for us to show value to celebrities.
Razdan claims that with the growth of Internet,the platform was becoming a natural magnet for celebrities looking to establish new forms of engagement with their fanbase. Television is losing to Internet today as most youngsters spend a lot of time online. No other model can provide the type of reach that Internet provides. Social gaming is one of the best mediums to reach out to this generation. This is set to explode, Razdan concluded.
