MKCREATIVE

Twitter Continues To Set World Cup Records, And Now Sets Places

Twitter's World Cup Home Page

It should no revelation that we have been following the World Cup in South Africa here at MKCREATIVE. But we also have been following the ways social media have had an impact on the event – at least the sharing of news about the event – as an example of how the strategic use of social media could benefit your organization. Well, the global influence that is football (er, ‘soccer’) can now be seen in the use of Twitter as well. We reported about two weeks ago that the biggest blast of tweets came after the US vs. England match (tied 1-1), though was quickly followed and beaten by the Lakers’ 7th-game victory over the Celtics in the NBA championship. A conclusion to be drawn from these back-to-back record breakers was the intense Ameri-centric use of Twitter. But no more…

Twitter posted on its blog that the Lakers/Celtics ‘Tweets Per Second’ record was beaten when Japan beat Denmark 3-1 on 24 June. “We are calling the end of Japan’s 3-1 victory over Denmark a record that bests the end of the Los Angeles Laker victory over the Boston Celtics (3,085 TPS). When the referee blew the final whistle, we saw 3,283 TPS.” Yes, Japan vs. Denmark. Denmark is hardly a hotbed of Twittericity, but the Japanese love their Twitter, even if it is not the most popular SM technology in the country (yet?).

To help people keep track of the locations from which they tweet, the social-media giant established “Twitter Places” within its microblogging software just as the World Cup was beginning (Likely, a coincidence, but one the Twitter blog emphasized the opportunity to have family and friends follow a fan’s postings.).

But we at MKCREATIVE are not simply shills for the Twitter juggernaut. Nor is the World Cup an equivalent to most any mission-based business. What makes Twitter Places a valuable tool for such businesses, coalitions, and community services is the integration with other microblogging technologies that tend to emphasize the local (which, of course, the World Cup does not):

Foursquare and Gowalla integration: Many Foursquare and Gowalla users publish check-ins to Twitter. Location is a key component of these Tweets, so we worked closely with both companies to associate a Twitter Place with Tweets generated by these services. This means that if you click on a Twitter Place, such as “Ritual Roasters,” you will see standard Tweets and check-ins from Foursquare and Gowalla.

Such integration would allow your organization not only the opportunity to post information about an event that automatically includes the coordinates of that event, but as people attend and participate, they will post their attendance with their coordinates – all of which has phenomenal potential to draw followers of followers to your event. So while planning your group’s World Cup Final Watching Party (14 July) and/or community fundraiser, be sure to establish a presence on Twitter to spread the word and build the excitement. And make use of Places right through your grand occasion to bring in a few more participants who might become ardent supporters of your good work once they know where you are.

Print PDF

Popularity: 1% | Category Community, Marketing, Software Review, Technology, Web and Print | | Comments Off

Written by: Christopher Gardner