As seen on Edge, between April 29th and May 4th, Xbox Live users in the UK were surveyed to see what their politics were. Of course, this isn’t a story that gained too much press in America, however the concept itself is interesting and leads to a certain questions: Do politicians care what gamers think and do gamers care a lot more about politics than we think?
What politicians probably realized…
If you look at today’s world it’s easy to see that most young people are connected via social media platforms. Many people agree that the current American president Barack Obama did so well because of his social media efforts. His campaign managers saw the strength behind rallying the millions of youngsters participating with social media tools. Did the UK political system take it one step further and not only reach out where today’s youth speaks, but where today’s youth plays?
Beyond social networking sites, young people spend a lot of time gaming online. Because Xbox Live by nature is connected to the Internet, it’s an outlet where gamers can not only reach out to one another but can very easily participate in online surveys. The politicians probably knew that many of the key demographics they were trying to reach are on Xbox Live. Why not bring the message to them instead of waiting for the youth to show their political colors?
But what do the gamers see?
I’m not familiar with the political system in the UK. I do know for certain that in the last few years, as social networking boomed, more and more young people in America where getting involved in politics. What I’ve personally seen is that most people do care but given the choice to either seek out information themselves or stay oblivious, most Americans will go for the latter. Because most of us know that, Facebook users frequently share their political views in their status updates to inform others or spur conversation. This helps others gain awareness of the world around them.
New grounds?
Using a site like Facebook to spread a message isn’t uncommon. However, will this be a new trend? If it’s safe to assume that most social media users and tech savvy people are on Facebook as much as they are on Xbox Live, are we missing a completely untapped market to spread messages or gather info?
American Xbox Live has yet to take a leap like this (it’s too busy showing us ads for the Army, deodorant and action moves. They clearly have a specific vision of who plays Xbox Live in America.). However, I don’t think it’s long before we might see more socially aware widgets on our dashboards. When that day comes, will you be surprised? Will you participate and send messages to your friends? Will you even care?
Let us know. Would you like political messages to be a part of your Xbox Live experience?
No related posts.
