Raptr is a social networking website and instant messenger

Instant messaging

Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

, targeted towards video game players. The company was founded by Dennis Fong

Dennis Fong

Dennis "Thresh" Fong is an entrepreneur and retired celebrity pro gamer. Fong has been called "the Michael Jordan of video games", a "Top 20 Entrepreneur Under 35" by Red Herring magazine, and voted as the "Top North American E-Sports Figure of All Time" by the E-Sports Entertainment Association,...

, co-founder of Xfire

Xfire

Xfire is a proprietary freeware instant messaging service for gamers, that also serves as a game server browser and has various other features. It is currently available for Microsoft Windows. Xfire was originally developed by Ultimate Arena based in Menlo Park, California...

, in 2007 and is located in Mountain View, CA. The company has raised 12 million dollars in funding from investors including Accel Partners and The Founders Fund.

The client, which is a downloadable application for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, supports AIM

AOL Instant Messenger

AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...

, Yahoo! Instant Messenger, GTalk, Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger is an instant messaging client created by Microsoft that is currently designed to work with Windows XP , Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Xbox 360, Blackberry OS, iOS, Java ME, S60 on Symbian OS 9.x and Zune HD...

, Xfire

Xfire

Xfire is a proprietary freeware instant messaging service for gamers, that also serves as a game server browser and has various other features. It is currently available for Microsoft Windows. Xfire was originally developed by Ultimate Arena based in Menlo Park, California...

, ICQ

ICQ

ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...

, and Facebook Chat protocol

Communications protocol

A communications protocol is a system of digital message formats and rules for exchanging those messages in or between computing systems and in telecommunications...

s and allows users to import their Xbox Live

Xbox Live

Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...

, PlayStation Network, and Steam accounts. It also includes other features such as game/achievements tracking, in-game overlay, and game management. Raptr offers a few images showing a user's game statistics for use in signatures

Signature block

A signature block is a block of text automatically appended at the bottom of an e-mail message, Usenet article, or forum post. This has the effect of "signing off" the message and in a reply message of indicating that no more response follows...

.

On the website, users add video games to their profile, as well as track game play time and achievements, share reviews, game related information, and game activity. Raptr lets users publish their gaming accomplishments to sites like Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

, Plurk

Plurk

Plurk is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length....

, FriendFeed

FriendFeed

FriendFeed is a real-time feed aggregator that consolidates the updates from social media and social networking websites, social bookmarking websites, blogs and micro-blogging updates, as well as any other type of RSS/ Atom feed...

, and Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

.

Raptr launched in a closed beta on February 2, 2008, and launched an open beta to the public on September 3, 2008.

Raptr has partnerships with video game publishers Activision

Activision

Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

, THQ

THQ

THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...

, Ijji

Ijji

ijji , is a free multiplayer game portal website operated by the Irvine-based internet company NHN USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of South Korean NHN Corporation. NHN also has game portals in Korea , Japan, and China...

  and the Raptr client was bundled with the PC release of Red Faction: Guerrilla

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Red Faction: Guerrilla is an open-world third-person action video game developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ. It was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in June 2009 and for Microsoft Windows in September 2009...

. In December 2009, Raptr partnered with Gamespot

GameSpot

GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

to provide both communities with extra features.