Chilipoker launches social media integration
Chilipoker has launched its Chiliconnect feature, which allows players to connect their poker accounts with Facebook and Twitter.
Chilipoker’s latest innovation, Chiliconnect, has gone live allowing players to integrate their poker accounts with Facebook and Twitter.
Players on the iPoker skin can now challenge opponents to games, make last-longer bets, and sell percentages of their action. When a player opens the Chilipoker client, they can access social media accounts through a sidebar.
Chilipoker CEO Alexandre Dreyfus (pictured) told eGaming Review that the interaction between players through a “buddy list” was more important than the social media aspect, in terms of providing a unique selling point for the site, explaining that “We want players to come to Chilipoker because of Chilipoker not because of [network] iPoker.”
Dreyfus spoke of the importance of control within the network environment, confirming that the innovation will not be spread across the network and saying: “There are other skins who might have a stronger brand than us and might be more powerful in marketing terms, but now we are not just another iPoker site when it comes to being promoted by affiliates.”
“The poker client is the same everywhere [on the network] and we don’t have a lot of control to change many things. But Chiliconnect is 100% owned by us, in terms of future development too.”
He added that “The link between Chilipoker players and the fact that you can speak to players is the most important part. Facebook is just the cherry on top of the cake.”
When a player opens the Chilipoker client, they are now able to log in to social media accounts through a sidebar and connect to other players on the site.
Among the features offered by Chiliconnect is the opportunity to challenge up to five friends to last-longer bets, where the last player remaining in a multi-table tournament automatically receives a predetermined amount from each other player involved.
Another element “ and one which, like the challenge feature, incurs no commission or extra costs “ allows players to trade action through Chiliconnect. Here, players can sell up to 40% of their buy-in and in exchange the buyer will be entitled to the same proportion of any amount won.
It is just the latest way in which an egaming site has sought to take advantage of the opportunities presented by social media, following similar movements from the likes of Spiral Solutions and Intralot, while Pokerstars recently added a social aspect to its existing platform with the ‘Home Games’ feature.
Bingo portal Bingobase has also upped its social media integration, while social gaming developer Zynga “ whose poker app on Facebook attracts millions of players “ today announced the recruitment of the team responsible for PokerTableRatings.
Poker blogger and former PartyPoker room manager Bill Rini has described Chiliconnect as “one of the biggest innovations in online poker that I’ve seen other than rush poker.”
He added that “every customer that they acquire via social media will cost them a tiny fraction of what it costs to acquire a customer via traditional media.”
Chiliconnect is currently only available on Chilipoker’s dot.com platform, but Dreyfus has revealed that it will move into the French market in a matter of weeks, while talks are in place to launch it in Italy through a local partner.