#Twitter #Sports #Hashtag

Top trends of 2012

I'm sure by now almost everyone has a Twitter account. The microblogging platform was launched in 2007 and now has millions of users. Due to it's success rate and popularity, it's no wonder business's are using it so heavily as a marketing tool. Twitter has also completely transformed the way we look at sports. Teams use it for play-by-play updates during a game, networks use it to post top stories, athletes use it to interact with fans... I could go on and on.

Another cool thing with Twitter is the hashtags (#). I know when I first started using Twitter it was hard for me to grasp the concept because I had never seen anything like it. So to put it simply, when a #hashtag is used in a tweet it filters and organizes all tweets that contain that particular #hashtag. The hashtags are utilized during sporting events to not only promote the event but to keep the viewers engaged. Often times the network will have an appropriate hashtag that users can use that is relevant to the event. They will also display the announcers user names so viewers can tweet them. I found a few examples of Twitter used during college basketball games. The top picture is of Jay Bilas who is an announcer for ESPN College Basketball. ESPN wanted users to tweet Jay questions during this segment of the game using the hashtag #AskBilas. The second picture is of Michael Gilchrist of Kentucky. In the picture he is shooting a foul shot. During this time the newtwork shows his name and his foul shooting stats. But if you look closely where the red circle is, you'll see his Twitter username.
 

Twitter also played a huge role during this years SuperBowl. There were over 24.1 million tweets sent during the game. The most popular hashtag used during the game was #SB47. Last year there were only 13.7 million SuperBowl related tweets. I found some information about the SuperBowl tweets on Twitters blog:

The moments generating the biggest peaks of Twitter conversation (measured in Tweets per minute, or TPM) during the game:
- Power outage: 231,500 TPM
- 108-yard kickoff return for Ravens TD by Jones: 185,000 TPM
- Clock expires; Ravens win: 183,000 TPM
- Jones catches 56 yard pass for Ravens TD (end of 2nd quarter): 168,000 TPM
- Gore TD for 49ers: 131,000 TPM


Overall, I think it's safe to say that Twitter is changing the world of sports. For the better. We are now able to be constantly engaged with the games, announcers, and players. It's amazing to see how big of an impact social media is on sports.

I'll leave you guys with a link to the Sports Illustrated Twitter Top 100 of 2012. See if your favorite athletes and/or announcers made the list!