Games Workshop, purveyors of fine 28mm miniature goodness, seem to have finally cottoned on to the fact that the Internet, and especially social networking, are really powerful tools for communicating with their audience. From yesterday’s preliminary results, there’s an interesting paragraph:

Another initiative that has proven to be successful in growing our customer base has been the
introduction of Facebook across our Hobby centres. Traditionally, we have found that most customers
discover the Games Workshop Hobby by word of mouth from friends and family. With Facebook
becoming the new ‘word of mouth’ among many of our customers, individual Facebook accounts are
being rolled out to all 392 Games Workshop Hobby centres across the world. This allows each
manager to keep local hobbyists informed of activities and events, such as new product launches. It
also makes it easier for customers to recommend Games Workshop to friends and family.

Games Workshop have always shied away from new media, but it’s a welcome turn. Add to that their recent global campaign encouraging folks to upload pictures of their armies, and it looks like they’re finally entering the Internet age.