Touchdown for Twitter

Somewhere in an unknown stadium, Twitter just high stepped into the end-zone and did a touchdown celebration bigger than the ‘Lambeau Leap’ or the ‘Gronk Spike’.

The NFL announced it would allow players to tweet before and during this year’s Pro Bowl. The league said it would set up a computer on each sideline where players are encouraged to use Twitter to communicate with fans, teammates and even opponents during commercial breaks when their offensive or defensive unit is not on the field.

This coming from a professional sports organization that has been a little less apt to allow players to fully embrace social media. Their current Social Media Policy bans players from tweeting 90 minutes before games all the way until they fulfill their postgame media obligations.

Is this a sign of more social media involvement by players during games across all sports? The NFL said that the Pro Bowl is only an experiment that it is not being considered by the regular season or playoffs.

What’s interesting is the NFL decided to ‘try’ this experiment a week before the event that is largely considered the social media event of the year, especially for advertisers. Last year, 111 million people watched the Super Bowl, according to Nielsen Companies, making it the most-watched TV event ever. This year more and more Super Bowl advertisers will be integrating social media into their TV ads.

So, what’s next? I wonder at some point will players be allowed to interact via social media with advertisers during timeouts? Will we see in the very near future an interactive ad that displays a players tweet or Facebook post to drink Coke during a game? Or better yet, will next year players be allowed to perform a ‘Touchdown Tweet’?

Stay tuned . . .

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NFL to allow Twitter during Pro Bowl

Super Bowl becoming the social media event of the season for advertisers