I think it’s safe to say the sports world is changing. Scratch that, IT IS safe to say. Just take a look at what’s happened in the NBA the past couple of weeks:
Whether it was Kevin Love breaking news or Shaq hearing he’d been traded on Twitter (and then singing about it), the fact is social media is changing this landscape. More and more NBA players are signing up for Twitter everyday, connecting with their fans and building actual relationships with them – no Traditional Media outlets involved.
Twitter alone has gotten so popular among NBA players and teams that David Stern even warned teams not to disclose draft picks on Twitter before the official announcements at the 2009 NBA Draft.
Side note: Thanks to our good friends in the NBDL, Kyle and I were in attendance at the Draft. We had a great time hanging with the guys from HHReynolds, The Sports Hernia and Project Spurs. Speaking of which, here’s a quick video of Kyle screaming at Hasheem Thabeet with some UCONN love.
Anyway, my point here is simple: Social media is truly changing the sports world. By choice, athletes are more accessible, and that makes being a fan more fun. Executed correctly, a social media strategy allows a player, team, or league to expand their reach and provide fans with an enriched experience. It’s a win-win for everyone involved and it is enhancing fandom as we know it.
This is what Carrot loves about the social web and it’s exactly why we’re entrenched in sports.
The Carrot team has been experimenting with ways to share news. For us to do our job and do it well, we pride ourselves on being on top of the latest trends and happenings in the news of social media and how we can implement this for our clients. We know that while reading is important, being able to apply what we’ve read and put a personal spin on it is just as valuable. Sure, we all can blog, post to Tumblr, Twitter…but how can we share what we’re reading in one solid place?
While del.icio.us is the standard for tagging articles, we still wanted to put emphasis on what we were getting out of the news. Posting that you liked an article or thought it was interesting is a plus for research and reference. But, the extra two cents YOU put into the story is what really makes things work. Just think about recent articles or blog posts you’ve read. Half of the comments on them are more interesting than the actual article!
So, is there a new solution to doing this? Enter Amplify, a service from the creators of Clipmarks. I met with Eric Goldstein, one of the creators last week to talk about what they’re doing and how this can change the way people check out news on the web. Amplify, as it says on the website, “is a service for sharing clips from articles, blog posts or anything else you read on the web with your friends on Twitter.”
That’s really it. The easy interface (once you add the Amplify add-on to your Firefox browser) lets you clip parts of the articles you like onto a clog in a few simple clicks. Once you’ve sent the clip to your clog, you can comment on it, share with across the web and keep a conversation about your post write there. You receive notifications when others respond (a bonus) and get to interact with like minded users willing to provide feedback. I’ve been a fan and some of the Carrot Crew has already picked up on it as well. Check out Jeff’s clog.
We’re going to use a group clog for Carrot Creative to start sharing what we’re reading on a daily basis and provide commentary. We’ll still of course blog here, but check out the Carrot Creative clog here.