Over the past few years Twitter has become a very influential part of not just the everyday Joe, but for athletes as well. Names such as Shaq, Lance Armstrong, and Lebron James are just a few that have implemented the 140 character bird themed social network. Now most of you are familiar with twitter and its format. It is short and sweet and very often a single tweet can pack a long lasting message. NBA athletes have been told not to tweet during a game and up to one hour after the game is over. The reason being is because of the various media outlets that cover these events utilize the time after the game to ask questions and build a story for the news outlets to present. There have been numerous incidents where players did not follow suit and were fined thousands of dollars for not following the guidelines of their respective sports social media policies.
Now after stating some of the previous involvements of athletes and twitter I want to briefly mention an article I came across this weekend. Dana White is the president of UFC also know as MMA or mixed martial arts. In USA today he talks about how social media has really helped UFC really become more involved with its fans and supporters. He is avid believer that is in his best interest to stay up to date with any potential mishaps or complaints from fans than he can easily resolve with the click of a button on his blackberry. UFC's facebook page has the second highest number of friends next to the NBA. That is phenemonal if you think about how mainstream these other sports are. Now soccer as a whole probably tops all of these, but as for the leagues by themselves UFC is number 2.
Now Dana White also offers incentives to his fighters for being media savvy. Bonuses as much as $280,000 dollars if they gain the most followers or create a nifty campaign through twitter or facebook. Stuff like that will not only make their athletes more likeable and accessible, it allows UFC to thrive while supporting their athletes. Now my next question is are their actual everyday businesses that would add incentives to their employees if they were to use twitter to better improve the comapanys outlook to its consumers. Perhaps next week I will scour the internet to see if the less flashy companies offer flashy rewards for taking part in social media.
here is a link to the article on usa today
