QuizUp had some days of glory when the game first appeared. Shortly after people got tired of quiz games (largely spawned by the once popular Draw Something) QuizUp went from being one of the most popular downloads to being a game that everyone forgot.

In order to try and get people interested in the app once more, the developers behind QuizUp have added a social aspect to the app that’s, well, a bit odd.

Being Social Through QuizUp

What does a company do when a once popular game suddenly takes a nose dive? If you are the developers behind QuizUp, you follow recent trends and try to cash in on some of those. Social networks are moving along well for the most part, and this is the territory that the QuizUp team hopes to move into. While QuizUp hasn’t become Twitter by any means, the company is still integrating a social aspect into the gaming app.

It’s kind of odd to use an app for a long time, and then suddenly open it up one day to find a whole new social thing happening. QuizUp reps have told press that the company has moved into the social sphere because it was the intention all along. The company claims that the game was always social (players play against other people from around the world), so making it a full social app along with gameplay makes sense. But is this the right platform for social?

Random Users Can Be Odd

Sometimes, adding a random person to your social feed works. This is the notion that LinkedIn is built on, and it works with Twitter as well. But if someone random tries to add you to their Facebook page, you probably don’t add them back. Some social sites work when it comes to talking to someone you don’t know and some don’t. Is QuizUp one of those apps that can successfully integrate social? It’s hard to tell.

QuizUp reps also told press that people will connect better if they have something in common like a popular game that they both like to play. This might be true, and it can sometimes and does sometimes work with other social sites as well. If you think about your Twitter connections, the people you do link up with are likely those same people that work in your industry or profession. So, why wouldn’t social through a game app work? Mostly because it doesn’t really work with any other game app.

Tried and Failed

There are a few gaming apps that have tried to go the social route, and while a few players may talk to each other occasionally, most people still find it odd to talk to someone random through a gaming app. So why would QuizUp be any different? It’s tough to say whether or not this strategy will work, but it’s also better than nothing as far as QuizUp’s overall strategy to attract new users go.

Will people sign up for QuizUp and start using the game just for the social aspect? It’s highly unlikely. Will existing users love the social spin? Maybe. Either way, it’s sink or swim for QuizUp at this time.