Commentary

Cleveland Cavs Install Social Media Displays

Whether you’re watching at home or at the arena, spectator sports are pretty much made for social media, and vice versa. This week the Cleveland Cavaliers joined the list of professional sports teams moving to encourage social media activity around their games through a partnership with TigerLogic Corp., which has installed large screens to display fans’ social media posts.

TigerLogic installed four permanent corner board social media displays using the tech company’s Postano Platform, which curates and publicizes social media content from fans throughout each game, as well as advanced statistics and closed captioning. There is plenty of social content to draw from, as the team noted that data from the first ten games of the season showed an average of 20,000 posts per game (presumably, social media managers are only broadcasting the complimentary ones).

The Cavs claim to be the first NBA team to have installed dedicated social media displays. Cavs Vice President of Marketing Mike Conley stated: “Working with Postano provides us with the technology to curate and visualize the best social content, sparking conversations among our loyal and dedicated fans and ultimately creating truly memorable brand experiences for them.”

However, the Cavs aren’t the first professional sports team to introduce permanent social displays in their home court or field.   Earlier this year the Cincinnati Reds unveiled a social media hub at the Great American Ballpark in downtown Cincinnati. The “Reds Connect Zone,” located on the third-base concourse, offers social-media users charging stations for mobile devices, free WiFi and 25 screens displaying fans’ Tweets, Instagram photos and Vine videos, as well as Facebook polls and trending topics.

Last year, the San Francisco Giants unveiled the @Café (pronounced At Café), a social-media hub located behind the centerfield bleachers at AT&T Park, the team’s home stadium. The café, which was launched in partnership with Peet’s Coffee and Tea, provides an immersive social media environment, complete with a 12 foot x 4 foot video wall that displays all the latest and top-trending Giants-related Tweets, Instagram photos, and Facebook posts, polls and check-ins.

Last but not least, for the last two years, event planners from the U.S. Tennis Association have created huge “social media walls” which displayed U.S. Open-related tweets, Facebook, and Instagram posts, among other types of content. The 2013 wall was such a big hit the USTA decided to expand it to three walls at this year’s Open.

 

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