iPhone games developers flock to Twitter

Gameloft chose to announce its next iPhone game on its Twitter feed yesterday, rather than through conventional means. But it's just the latest iPhone games firm to hit Twitter.

In fact, there are hundreds of iPhone devs using the micro-blogging service, as marvellously rounded up on this Google doc (you can add yourself to the list via this form).

On the gaming side, the list includes the likes of ngmoco, Freeverse, Newtoy, Veiled Games, EA Mobile, Distinctive Developments, TAG Games, Antair Games and Igloo Games, among others.

Are you on Twitter yet? Many people still see micro-blogging as a time-waster rather than something that can genuinely benefit their business, but the presence of these firms is proving otherwise.

A few tips on how best to use it:

• Don't just pimp your own products - nobody will be interested in following a feed that just says 'buy this...' at regular intervals.
• Find other mobile games companies (the list above provides a great start) and 'follow' them. You'll end up with a great feed of what other industry people are Twittering about, and they might follow you back.
• Use the 'reply' tool to comment on other people's tweets, and to reply when they reply to yours. Twitter is about two-way communication, not one-way broadcasting.
• Back to that first point - we said don't JUST pimp your own products, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't tweet when games go live on the App Store, or to point people to a blog post or press article previewing your cool new game.
• Publicise your Twitter feed on your website and in your email signature, to help people find it.
• Be aware that using Twitter for purely marketing purposes can be problematic - as Gameloft discovered when the Twitter account it set up for its Hero Of Sparta game was abruptly shut down "due to strange activity".

That should be enough to get you started. And remember, PocketGamer.biz has our very own Twitter feed, on which we're trying to put the above principles into practice. There's also a separate Twitter account for Pocket Gamer.