Review by Jamie Coder in KIN 435
The article that we picked, “Tweet Smell of #Success” was a very interesting article. It talks about how Twitter.com has helped transform the world of pro sports. Now every NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL franchise, as well as a sizeable amount of pro athletes, has twitter pages. They can use these accounts to connects with fans one-on-one, promote games/players, or just to talk about nothing in particular. This article also mentions how Twitter is changing the athlete-sponsor relationship because athletes are tweeting about their sponsors, which is sometimes gaining more recognition than a TV commercial. I think that Twitter has the potential to impact the sports world in a bigger way, especially through marketing and promotion. For example, pro athletes can tweet something about a product they like (or that they are sponsored by) and it would result in good publicity for that product because it would seem like it was not sponsored information or a paid advertisement, thus making it more believable in the minds of the people “following” that particular athlete. Another way Twitter could impact the sports world through promotion is athletes using twitter for more personal contact. As mentioned in the article, people are getting more excited about an athlete tweeting back at them then getting their actual autograph. Athletes could use this to get closer to their fans and to gain more support. The more fans like an athlete, the more sponsorship deals they could sign, the more popular they could become and so on. Teams and athletes could also use Twitter to offer incentives for following them. As mentioned in the article, when the Chargers faced a possible blackout, the official Chargers Twitter page offered discount prices for tickets to sell out the seats. Teams could use Twitter not only for putting butts in the seats, but for coupons to places that sponsor the team, special discounts at team stores, even have trivia with the lucky winner getting a meet and greet with the team. Finally, a team or athlete could use Twitter to improve its community relations or social responsibility. In the article, it mentions how the White Sox and Indians had a “#hashtag” battle by donating $1 to cancer research whenever a fan used certain hashtags. With fun games like this or even doing something simple like donating $1 to cancer research for every follower or an athlete donating $1 to their charity for every one follower, teams and professional athletes could improve their social image as well as improve their image within their community. All in all, I really enjoyed the article and think that the sports world has not even began to scratch the surface in regards to all the possibilities that Twitter holds, especially when it comes to marketing and promoting teams, athletes, sponsors, etc.
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Review by Patrick Downey in KIN 435
The article states that almost half of all professional athletes in the United States and every NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA teams have twitter accounts. Shaquille O’Neal, for instance, is approaching four million Twitter followers. Although not all athletes have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, enough have done so that Twitter has become a permanent aspect of the sports world. During Super Bowl XLV there were as many as 4,064 tweet per second and during the Champions League final there were more than 6,300 tweets per second. However, not all Twitter involvement is good, especially since athletes with Twitter accounts are the ones with direct access and control, Tweeting whatever that want. Athletes such as Reggie Bush and Ozzie Guillen and Rashard Mendenhall have got themselves into hot water in the past. Mendenhall tweeted skepticism of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and has since received a lot of backlash from those tweet.
Although it began as a “toy” for athletes, Twitter now provides much opportunity in the marketing and promotions aspect of sport. Last season the San Diego Chargers were facing game black outs, so they went to Twitter and used it as a venue to sell seats. The White sox and Indians also used Twitter during a game last year to donate money to cancer research by using a “#hashtag battle.” NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald embeds sponsors into his tweet, which provides that sponsor with medium to advertise their product indirectly. Although Twitter has not been used extensively for sport promotion, it certainly has the ability to do so. Twitter is a perfect vehicle for sponsors to convey information about their products to potential customers and it is also a good way to position a product. For instance, if a sponsor uses a well-respected athlete such as Michael Jordon, to tweet about a new product, this product is then positioned in the mind of consumers as a reputable product that they may want to buy. Also, due to Twitters ability for rapid response it becomes a valuable vehicle for publicity since athletes can tweet information about products or organizations that does not seem sponsored. Twitter also involves the personal contact and community relations’ aspects since fans (followers) can directly tweet an athlete or team and elicit a personal response thus making connection between athlete/team and fan (community). Finally, Twitter can become a large part of sponsorship, namely the ‘retail promotional sales (incentives)’ component. Twitter could utilize this component by having companies offer sales and promotions through the their Twitter accounts, such as the first set amount of people to tweet a correct answer to trivia or tweet a response to a post, get a coupon or win a prize.
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