This afternoon LeBron James finally joined Twitter as @KingJames. Fellow NBA superstar Chris Paul broke the news with a tweet and an ESPN report confirms that the account does indeed belong to James. Given all the interest in where James will land this off-season, wouldn’t it be something if he made his announcement on Twitter?
NBA free agency kicked off yesterday in what has been described as the most anticipated offseason in league history. Superstar free agents LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson are all on the move and hoops fans can’t stop talking about it.
Where will LeBron go? Will Wade and Bosh join him? What about Joe Johnson, who received a six year, $121 million dollar contract offer from Atlanta? While stars joining new teams during free agency is nothing new, something else about this offseason is: players on Twitter.
Bosh and Wade both maintain official Twitter accounts, as do many NBA players. Yet never before have sports fans had the chance to interact with their hoops heroes so directly during free agency as they have done this offseason. Speculation amongst fans and the media grow with each tweet, as Techcrunch reported this morning. Ultimately Twitter is just another way for players to tease fans and the media about where they’ll go but does present a different way of interacting with players than in years past.
Has following stars like Bosh and Wade made free agency more interesting to you? What about the constant speculation from the media and fans? Sound off in the comments.
I appeared as a guest on the Row Show, a Internet TV show about the sports industry. I talk about why I started Sportsin140.com, how smart teams use social media and the future of the sports industry in social media.
To view in a larger format or download a HD copy for your iPod, please visit the Row Show website. Thanks again to Jon and Jason for having me on the show!
Episode 30: Sports in 140 from Jonathan Dusing on Vimeo.
The Milwaukee Bucks are currently battling the Atlanta Hawks in a fierce first round playoff series. As of this writing (April 29), the @Bucks lead the series 3 games to 2.
The key to the Bucks’ recent social media success has been its “Fear the Deer” campaign. The team encourages fans and even players to use the #fearthedeer hashtag when discussing Bucks basketball. The #fearthedeer campaign even made Twitter’s trending topics after Milwaukee’s game 5 win last night.
Then there’s Bango, the Bucks mascot, who is a big part of the “Fear the Deer” campaign.
This video of Bango dunking during Game 4 received over 2.8 million views in just three days.
The Bucks re-tweet players and fans, field questions and also advertise Tweetups and other promotions on their official account. The Bucks have a roster full of players who tweet including:
The great thing about the Bucks social media campaign is that everyone is on board. From the official @Bucks account to the players to play-by-play broadcaster Jim Paschke, fans are well informed with the very latest on their team. The Bucks also re-tweet bloggers like Jeremy Schmidt, who runs the popular @Bucksketball blog and Twitter account.
While it’s only natural to be excited when your team is in the playoffs, the Bucks are doing a great job capitalizing on that excitement. Want to buy tickets for the next game at the last minute? The @Bucks account has you covered with tweets about the very latest ticket availability. Can’t make it to the game? The Bucks will live-tweet the game for you. Want to watch the Bucks with other fans when the team is on the road? The Bucks partner with local businesses and create viewing parties for fans.
To be sure, the Milwaukee Bucks aren’t the only NBA team doing all of this. They’re doing such a great job in the midst of a playoff push that their success should be noted. The Bucks may play in a small market but they’re doing big things in social media. The Bucks make it easy to be a fan.
An NBA league source tells ESPN’s Marc Stein that the league will unveil “minimal” guidelines for players, coaches and other team officials using Twitter and other social media sites this week.
Stein writes:
The primary restriction of the policy is expected to prevent various team representatives from tweeting during games, after the stir caused late last season when Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva, then with Milwaukee, tweeted from the Bucks’ locker room during halftime.
Stein also reports that the NBA will allow individual teams to set their own organizational guidelines for the use of social media in a manner similar to how some teams have adopted a strict dress code which goes beyond the league mandated dress code.
Edit- The NBA released its policy on Wednesday and it is exactly as Stein reported. For the record, Shaq said he has no problem with the new policy.
