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The Night the NFL’s Replacement Refs Blew Up Twitter

September 24, 2012 by

At 9:24 p.m. Pacific time Monday night, here is what is trending on Twitter: One promoted stream, followed by: #MNF, Roger Goodell, Packers, XFL, #MyExTaughtMe, #ThingsBetterThanReplacementRefs, Vince McMahon, Mike McCarthy, Hail Mary. If you didn’t watch the end of Monday Night Football Twitter can tell you all about it: I don’t even need to hear from Twitter PR that tonight will be the most-tweeted night ever, as every single NFL fan, follower and participant calls for Roger Goodell’s head and his decision to keep real refs out and replacement refs in.

It wasn’t just the single game-ending call that stunk like skunk. There were numerous calls either way, including an egregious offensive pass interference call that went the other way, keeping Seattle’s game-ending drive alive. We’ll embed some choice tweets here but may not get any more since we are betting the Twitter server farms are nearing code red or whatever thing they use to warn of meltdown. If nothing else, Twitter can thank Goodell for probably cementing their IPO. Twitter may be changing sports, but tonight sports is changing Twitter. Or at the very least blowing it to smithereens.

Filed Under: ESPN, Monday Night Football, NFL, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

ESPN Intros SportsCenter Feed, a Twitter and Team Stream Competitor

September 19, 2012 by

Here at MSR we have praised Bleacher Report’s Team Stream app for doing a great job of aggregating content we care about, namely that about the teams we like. What we like a lot about Team Stream is its embrace of content from all sources, not just Bleacher Report, to give as full a range of news and opinions as possible.

Now from the other side of the coin we have the Worldwide Leader, which today introduced a beta version of something it is calling SportsCenter Feed, which does exactly what you think it might do — brings all of ESPN’s breadth of content into one Twitter-like stream, with a kind of cool big viewing window to the side.

Though nobody doubts ESPN’s ability to give you more sports content than you could actually consume, the question we have is whether or not sports fans really want to stay inside the ESPN bubble, or whether they might prefer creating their own “feed” on say, something like Twitter itself, which as we said earlier is already the default AP wire for all of sports. For many fans ESPN might be more than enough, while others might prefer to have opinions and takes that originate somewhere other than Bristol.

Where you might see SportsCenter Feed getting some love is outside ESPN itself, as (we think) the strategy is to license the APIs so that other content aggregators or sites — like say, a team or league’s home page — could license the ESPN content which it could then show in some kind of a streaming window. Some mobile sports apps like PlayUp are already experimenting with similar sports news feeds, so that users of those apps don’t need to log on to another app or site to get scores and other info.

What is clear is that ESPN is making good on its pledge to do things digitally first, even if that means sabotaging some of its current cash cows (if you sift through SportsCenter Feed, for instance, you may not need to turn on your TV to sit through the commercials on the regular SportsCenter broadcasts). So even as Twitter and other new options look for a sporting edge, the Worldwide Leader is going to be the Yankees in this arena as well. Not that the Yankees can’t lose, but you will need a good game plan to beat their killer lineup.

Filed Under: Apps, bleacherreport, ESPN, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

Twitter and Sports: The Game Has Already Changed

September 19, 2012 by

If you saw my tweet earlier this morning you already know how I feel about the “sports week” promotion going on with Twitter. I think it’s a bit superflous since Twitter has already changed sports in a big way, for sports media, teams and athletes, sports marketing and sports fans.

Though I may still break all this down in more detail for a long-form report, I wanted to touch on all these points now just to start the discussion. What’s amazing to me as an outside observer is how quickly Twitter has changed how we consume sports content, and how people in all parts of the sports world interact. I’m old enough to remember how ESPN and SportsCenter killed off the daily newspaper box score, but the absorbtion of Twitter has cut across multiple segments of the sports world, at something like 10 times the speed. Quickly, let’s break it down by category:

Sports Media — Twitter is the new AP Wire

Years ago when I was a daily newspaper sports writer, the most addicting thing in the world was to go to the office to read the Associated Press wires. Those (expensive!) information streams brought scores and stories to our computers from everywhere around the world, a level of information and access that you could never fit in any bundled up package of newsprint. I also remember the charge I would get when our own stories would occasionally be picked up for national or international distribution. It was this cool secret society of people who were way more in the know about sports than your average fan on the street.

Now, that world is available to anyone with Internet access and a browser, since every single media person in the world of sports users Twitter as their own personal “AP wire,” alerting fans, competitors and anyone else of their latest scoops or opinions. It’s an incredible leap in just a few years for Twitter to become an internationally approved, accepted and used third-party method embraced by all sides of the increasingly competitive sports media world. It’s also become an instant feedback loop for all kinds of sports media, to know if their stories, videos or columns are “trending.” No other technology has been accepted and used so quickly, by so many. It’s simply stunning to see how fast Twitter has become the pervasive news-wire for sports, worldwide.

Teams and Athletes — A Direct Pipe to Fans and Followers

Beyond the media’s expected embrace is the growing coolness of athletes and teams using Twitter as a direct communication mechanism, a trend that may put a lot of boring sports reporters out of business. Who needs or wants to read bland press-conference quotes when you can hear or even talk to athletes and teams directly?

While I don’t think it will really kill off the need for sports reporting the ability to teams and athletes to circumvent the media process and connect directly with their followers has changed the sports business forever, in mostly a good way. In Twitter’s short life span we’ve already gotten much closer to athletes and the lives they lead both on and off the field. It’s made things both more interesting and more complicated but unquestionably more rich and informative. And it’s only really just begun.

Sports Marketing gets a Free, Always-On way to Announce

Another field just getting started but sure to explode is the use of Twitter for sports marketing purposes. Some savvy brands, like TaylorMade golf, are already big users of Twitter to engage fans who follow athletes in the sports their products are used. Around the big golf tournaments this year TaylorMade was all over Twitter, with fan contests, links to pictures of athletes in action, interactive chats and more. No longer do brands or teams need to wait for a media outlet to stage a press event, a promotion or simply to announce something new — they can go straight to Twitter and get the message rolling.

The low-cost/no-cost barrier to entry makes Twitter available to even the smallest marketers, who no longer have to pay hundreds of bucks to get a “press release” out on “the wires.” A savvy team of social-media folks can get much more mileage out of a cool Twitter campaign, which if it goes “viral” can get coverage and attention that nobody could pay for up front. The great thing is, this channel is open to anyone with a message — which means a few developers with a sports app are on the same footing as EA Sports. That’s pretty cool and means that there will likely be more innovation in sports marketing, real real soon.

Fans Get a Powerful, Free Way to Make Their Voice Heard — And Communicate with their Heroes

Finally, Twitter has forever changed how a large group of fans will interact with their favorite sports and athletes. Not only can you easily follow the media and athletes as outlined above, but with a small amount of skill you can also directly communicate with top athletes the world over, in a much more rich way than ever before possible — and at a sort of arm’s-length distance that makes it easier and comfortable for the athletes to participate.

The best example of this is the fact that a “retweet” has become the new autograph. Instead of standing around for an hour after the game and trying to shove a picture or a program toward an athlete to sign — how meaningful — you can now try to get that athlete to retweet or respond to your tweet, an act that usually requires either some original thinking or at the very least an honest emotion. We’ve already heard multiple stories about athletes meeting up with Twitter followers for dinners or drinks, and hosted Twitter chats are becoming more popular as a great structured way for fans and players to interact.

And though sports radio call-in shows remain popular, I would bet that in the next few years the “callers” who have to wait on hold for hours will be dwarfed by opinions that are sent in to shows via Twitter — a method already used by ESPN’s SportsCenter, among others. Having your Twitter handle shown on TV is the new “Dave from Wichita” label of honor for fanatics, and it’s probably only a matter of time before the first Twitter Bill Simmons emerges. Like everything else mentioned above, I can’t wait to see it happen.

Filed Under: ESPN, Sports Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report Grab Bag: New Tablets from ZTE & Huawei and MNF Flop

September 14, 2012 by

Toys 'R' Us Tabeo

Tired of losing your pricey iPad to your kids and then they yell when you try and take it back? Well Toys “R” Us has stepped in with a product that just might save the day with its Tabeo offering. A 7-inch tablet that runs the Android operating system will be available in stores Oct. 21, but will start shipping Oct. 1.

The $149.99 device will feature 4GB of storage that is expandable to 32GB, but the big plus for parents is that it will come with more than 50 books, games and educational apps preloaded including such popular ones as Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. The Tabeo is now available for preorder.

Chinese vendors ZTE & Huawei catching tablet fever?
DigiTimes is reporting that both Huawei Technologies and ZTE have both shown a good deal of interest in entering the tablet space. The move is seen as an effort to expand their respective footprints globally as well as take advantage of the huge Chinese market.

First Monday Night Football game of season a flop with fans
The first MNF games have come and gone, and thank goodness if you were forced to watch them. Apparently not that many did as Sports Media Watch reports that the opening game, a Ravens blowout of the Bengals only managed an 8.1 rating.

Monday Night Football

The season opener, shown on ESPN, was down 21% from last year when the Patriots and Dolphins played and down 23% from the Jets vs. Ravens in 2010. It was the lowest rated MNF broadcast by ESPN since it took over broadcast duties of the iconic show in 2007.

However just a few days later the NFL Network, with a much better matchup with the Packers vs. Bears, received the highest rating in its short history. However its numbers, at 6.3, are hurt because it still is not carried anywhere near as much by cable operators as ESPN.

Analysts predict 58 million iPhone sales in 2012
The iPhone orders only start today after the introduction earlier this week with the first phones expected to ship next week but analysts are predicting a tsunami of sales for Apple’s iPhone 5 smartphone in 2012.

According to a survey done by Bloomberg and reported in Mashable the consensus from analysts is 58 million sold this year and FBR Capital Market analyst Craig Berger is predicting 250 million over the life of the device.

Is Samsung’s LTE threat an issue still?
Samsung mentioned that if Apple included LTE in its iPhone 5 there was a high likelihood of Samsung suing Apple. Samsung owns a huge number of patents in this area and has a healthy business in the LTE area that is spate from the smartphone business.

Now so far Samsung has not acted but it might just be that the company is looking at the technology that is used in Apple’s LTE offering to make sure that it has it right. We could always hope that maybe the two are actually talking and can settle things out of court.

Samsung & MLB partner on contest
Speaking of Samsung the company has entered into a contest with Major League Baseball called Photo Hunt. It is a pretty basic game, one I think even I would have a decent chance at. Every week MLB, at @MLB, will tweet out a Samsung Photo Hunt item using the hash tag #SamsungMLB.

All a user has to do is take a picture of the item and share it with @MLB. Winners will get a Samsung S III phone and two free tickets to a game of their favorite team.

Kindle opens to lukewarm reviews
I was impressed by what I saw during the Kindle HD press conference last week, but reviewers with hands-on experience with the device have been less than complimentary. Some seems to be valid complaints, such as the speed apps load and a few issues with software.

Some of the complaints appear to be, well it is not an iPad, and that really is Amazon’s fault for proclaiming it the best tablet in the market. I still like it, but it is obviously what Amazon said it was at its introduction: a device that opens up other Amazon services to customers. It seems to me to make a product like that (in hindsight) that there will be features that are not included that a general purpose tablet user might want.

USA Today to look like iPad?
I have not been down to the local newsstand but it appears that USA Today will be sporting a new look starting this morning. The paper, which in many ways revolutionized the way papers look and how much space they devote to a story, is now taking on a sleeker appearance.

The paper took a lesson from the Web and how many sites present information. It will also feature input from social media users, including comments from Twitter and Facebook. Its web page will function more like an iPad, according to a piece in the New York Times.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, ABC, Amazon, Android, Apple, ESPN, Facebook, Gannett, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Major League Baseball, Mashable, Monday Night Football, NFL, NFL Network, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

Michael Strahan Debuts Twitter Video Project: #StraysTakes

September 13, 2012 by

Michael Strahan is a busy guy these days — in additon to being Regis’s replacement on one of the bigger morning TV talk shows, today he debuted an interesting Twitter-based project called #StraysTakes. Produced in conjunction with Verizon Wireless and its NFLMobile app, #StraysTakes looks like it will be a series of well-produced video takes on football-related topics from a guy with serious playing credentials and a budding career as an entertaining video presence.

Today’s inaugural episode, posted above, is Strahan talking about being a fantasy football rookie — love his line about why he wasn’t into fantasy before (because he was busy playing football in reality). What is interesting to us here at MSR from a business perspective is how quickly we are seeing a combination of Twitter/YouTube projects surface where Twitter is the promotional/user finding end, and YouTube is the distribution channel. Though it might not be threatening ESPN just yet this combo has a lot of legs when it comes to allowing players, teams, brands and other independent promoters the ability to craft some compelling content, and then find viewers without having to go through any of the traditional broadcast channels.

Filed Under: NFL, NFL Mobile, Twitter, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , , , , ,

NBC’s Sunday Night Football Expands Social Media Presence

September 10, 2012 by

Sunday Night Football on NBC

I was reading an old NBC Sports press release this morning and an interesting note caught my eye on its growing use of social media as a tool in reaching fans. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all will feature much more prominently in the networks pro football efforts.

The first thing I saw was that for what seems like a first you will be able to get live video updates from the sidelines of Sunday Night Football. It seems that NBC’s broadcast team sideline reporter will be posting updates directly to Twitter.

As the ultimate in mobility, if not image quality, it looks like instead of a traditional camera they will be using an iPhone, according to Mashable, to record the updates that will be provided by reporter Michele Tafoya and then post them to @SNFonNBC.

I think that this is a great idea because it will enable her to expand beyond the role that sideline reporters often seem to fall into such as asking blindingly obvious questions to the coaches and occasionally providing an injury update when they can squeeze them into the broadcast.

During sports broadcasts I do not like the breakways from the action that seem to increasingly occur. ESPN almost ruined Monday Night Football for me by having a guest in the booth and talking with them and showing the conversation rather than the action that was on the field. I did not tune in to hear Mark Wahlberg tout his latest movie!

Apparently the Twitter effort started in the preseason and I managed to miss it, as I followed my tradition of not watching preseason games, or pretty much caring about their results aside from the injury reports.

For the second year NBC will also be employing Instagram as a tool to send images to fans, both ones that it generates from the control truck, field and locker-room but also fan-generated ones as well who can submit via Instagram using #SNF that be sent into a special Instagram tab on the Sunday Night Football Facebook page.

The centerpiece of the social experience will be its Facebook page, Facebook.com/SNFonNBC that will serve as an aggregation site for all of its various properties including NBCSports.com, ProFootballTalk.Com and RotoWorld.com as well as the Twitter feed and the Instagram postings.

I think this is one of the best uses of social media by a broadcaster and shows that as the broadcasters, at least this one, are getting a grasp on the fact that fans view events and gather information about them with a greater variety of media tools than ever before and that reaching them all takes a more concentrated effort.

Filed Under: Facebook, Instagram, Mashable, NBC Sports, NFL, ProFootballTalk, Sports Photography, Sports Social Media, Sports Social Media Data, Sunday Night Football, Twitter Tagged With: , , , ,
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