How Twitter will change the way we live, and the face of sports

If you are interested in Social Media, you surely didn’t miss spotting the cover of this week’s TIME magazine and probably dived into Steven Johnson’s must-read article: How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live. Coincidence or not, on the same day TIME published the article on its website, Sport Illustrated put up an article entitled “With Shaquille O’Neal its leader, Twitter is changing sports“.

In 20 years, the web has evolved from it’s “static” state in the 90ies, to becoming increasingly “social” these past years. It is now entering a new stage dubbed as the “real-time web” fueled by Twitter and Facebook Status updates. Robert Scoble is naming it the “2010 web” and you should read his blog as well to keep track of his explorations.

Twitter revolves around three key elements: social networks (the principle of followers); live searching (gives you a real-time view onto the chatter of just about any topic imaginable); link-sharing (to longer articles, discussions, posts, videos…) and, as these two articles are emphasizing, is increasingly making an impact on every aspect of our daily life.

Put together these three elements are the reasons why every major channel of information will be Twitterfied in one way or another in the coming years:

• News and opinion.
  Increasingly, the stories that come across our radar — news about a plane crash, a feisty Op-Ed, a gossip item — will arrive via the passed links of the people we follow. Instead of being built by some kind of artificially intelligent software algorithm, a customized newspaper will be compiled from all the articles being read that morning by your social network. This will lead to more news diversity and polarization at the same time: your networked front page will be more eclectic than any traditional-newspaper front page, but political partisans looking to enhance their own private echo chamber will be able to tune out opposing viewpoints more easily.

• Searching.
  As the archive of links shared by Twitter users grows, the value of searching for information via your extended social network will start to rival Google’s approach to the search. If you’re looking for information on Benjamin Franklin, an essay shared by one of your favorite historians might well be more valuable than the top result on Google; if you’re looking for advice on sibling rivalry, an article recommended by a friend of a friend might well be the best place to start.

• Advertising.
  Today the language of advertising is dominated by the notion of impressions: how many times an advertiser can get its brand in front of a potential customer’s eyeballs, whether on a billboard, a Web page or a NASCAR hood. But impressions are fleeting things, especially compared with the enduring relationships of followers. Successful businesses will have millions of Twitter followers (and will pay good money to attract them), and a whole new language of tweet-based customer interaction will evolve to keep those followers engaged: early access to new products or deals, live customer service, customer involvement in brainstorming for new products.

In the Action Sports world, Tony Hawk is definitively the hottest Twitter user (@tonyhawk), and his now famous Twitter Hunts got him to get featured in TIME’s article. Why should Twitter be more widely used within the Action Sports community?
These are few hints for athletes, brands, contests and event organizers that came to mind after reading the articles:

• Athletes.
  Micro-blogging is perfect for you. It’s short (only 140 characters), and easy to use (like sending a text message and you can do it via your smartphone too). But the best part is the intimate connection you can build with your followers, turning them into your ultimate fans. Just imagine you are strapped in your snowboard, standing on top of a gnarly line in AK, or about to hit your last run at the X-Games’ Half-Pipe skateboard finals. Send out a short tweet: “Droooooppppping in 5! YEAH!“. Hit that run, nail it and check back. Guess you’ll be stoked about all the @replies your followers have sent you in those last minutes, and your sponsors will be stoked about them too for sure…
• Brands.
  It’s about time to start conversations with people and stop the unidirectional advertising practice that resumes to sending out messages. Twitter can enable your brand to create a totally new experience for your followers. Just check out some successful examples from other industries such as Scott Monty (@ScottMonty) from Ford or all the employees tweeting away at Zappos.
  Put a face behind your Twitter account and instead of your brand’s logo; let your employees use Twitter, they are your brand’s best ambassadors. Get your followers engaged in your brand’s development and products; let them talk to you, listen to them, give them the answers, make them feel that you really care, and your brand will be evangelized every day. Some Action Sports brands are already earning the credibility to participate within the Twitter community, gaining advocates and ultimatly increasing their sales through word of mouth. What about yours?
• Events and competition organizers.
  Except for major events such as the X-Games, it is still quite difficult for Action Sports events and competitions to make it live in mainstream media. Even though live webcast is spreading, it is still a costly solution that keeps it exclusive to bigger events. Twitter, official supplier of the “super fresh” web, is definitely a great – and free – solution to spread in-the-moment conversations about what is happening right now at your event. Fueled by the tweets of the people actually assisting to the event, it will spark reactions by others who cannot be there but want to be part of the happening. Events should make sure to organize the conversation by communicating strongly on the #hashtag that users should include in their tweets. End of May, for example, the annual TTR General Assembly took place in Innsbruck, Austria in what was probably the largest group of snowboard event experts gathering in one spot to discuss the current status and the future of competitive freestyle snowboarding. I might be wrong but I haven’t found any traces of it on Twitter. Wouldn’t it have been a perfect opportunity for the progressive governing body to engage in a conversation with riders out there, get their opinions, feedback and ideas about the future of snowboard competitions? Look out for the #TTRGA at next year’s General Assembly….

Open and in-the-moment conversations, intimate relations, strong interactions and enhanced brand experience, these are just a few of the benefits that Twitter can offer any Action Sports player. What do you think?