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A look at the brain behind Sports Media Challenge

Filed Under Social Media 

If you have followed the movement of sports teams and athletes onto Twitter, then you have already heard of Kathleen Hessert (@kathleenhessert). She’s the brains behind Sports Media Challenge and the reason for Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Nash, and many sports teams for being on Twitter. The blog 9 to Fried posted a great interview with Hessert that warrants a read. Here’s an excerpt from the interview, but please go read the entire thing.

Do you think right now it’s not an issue because Twittering hasn’t hit the real mainstream? For example every coach might not be aware of what it is or what it entails.

Let’s use Shaq as an example.  When Shaq said last week he was going to Tweet during halftime and not get fined, and he Tweeted that at hours before the game and he and the coach, who also has a Twitter account, where asked about it, the coach said “if he puts up 25 points and grabs 11 rebounds he can do whatever he wants.” Now, here is a coach, that gets it, but also uses the Twitter.

I think that just goes to show you how much people as a society, and sports fans, need instant gratification and feedback. Do we really need to talk to Shaq in the middle of a game? No. Is it cool? Absolutely.

Yes, exactly. I have to give the Phoenix Suns a ton of credit. When I launched Shaq on Twitter last fall, we immediately connected and collaborated with the front office. They put a person on Twitter and built and leveraged what Shaq was doing to build a stronger fan base. It was phenomenal. They held Tweet-ups which have sold tickets to games for them, they have built a fan loyalty that I would suspect rivals that of any team in the league. Or any league for that matter. So it doesn’t surprise me that no one in the front office or on the team has an issue with Shaq tweeting during a game.

Comments

One Response to “A look at the brain behind Sports Media Challenge”

  1. Ben on May 4th, 2009 7:42 pm

    Like you said, do we really need Shaq to tweet in the middle of a game? No. Is it cool? Yes. For people who want to follow their favorite athletes and get a sense of what their doing when they’re not around sports is cool. It allows you to kind of get to know your favorite athlete on a more personal level, and that’s what the public likes and wants. I know College coaches are using Twitter to update what they’ve done in practice and so forth. I wonder how long it will take for the NCAA to get a grip on Twitter like they did on text messaging?

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