[ 2011-12-24 ]

Robson has 57,436 followers

The year Twitter came of age — but just wait for the Olympics
The art of getting your message across in 140
characters has finally engaged sports stars, with
largely beneficial results
It has been a year of epiphany, disaster,
heartache and bluster. We have seen romances,
resignations and rollicking rows between sport’s
leading figures — and all because of a few
snippets crammed into 140 grammatically
promiscuous characters.
Twitter and sport were more than just good friends
before 2011, of course, but the past 12 months
have marked a tipping point. If the relationship
resembled a slightly troubled fling before the
year began, it looks far more like a marriage as
we approach 2012, with its own honeymoon periods,
arguments and, in some cases, bitter divorces.
It was something that many ignored until this
year, dismissing it as a fad — the most laconic,
celebrity-driven and inane of the social
networking media.
But at some point in early 2011 something changed.
Leading sports stars began to realise that Twitter
could given them back their voice, freeing them
from the restrictive muzzling of the PR machine
that rules many of the world’s top sporting
organisations and allowing them to appear less
remote, more likeable.
Wayne Rooney, Rafael Nadal and Tiger Woods were
just some of the big names to join Twitter in
2011, with varying degrees of success. All of them
have built up followings of more than one million
in a relatively short period, although that is
rarely a reflection of the content they provide,
more of our desire to bridge the increasingly
yawning void between fans and modern sports
stars.
There have, however, been casualties. Acres of
newsprint have been generated by the impassioned
exchanges that take place on Twitter, something
that may ultimately lead to its demise. We have
reached a delicate balance, the see-saw is tipping
one way and then another, but for now the good
outweighs the undoubted bad. For now we must
appreciate and embrace the rare opportunity to see
our sporting heroes as they really are: unmasked,
flawed, funny and, occasionally, normal. It will
not last for ever.
When sports people collide with the new frontier
of the seething unwashed, it isn’t always
pleasant. Rooney and Woods, to name but two,
provoke as much derision as delight in many minds
and sometimes Twitter’s energetic, witty heckle
turns downright nasty.
This fretful, bitchy, endlessly creative place is
one that only the thick-skinned should consider
entering. It has, understandably, proved too much
for some. In May, Kevin Davies, the Bolton
Wanderers captain, informed his 99,622 followers
that he was shutting down his account. “Today
will be my last day on Twitter,” Davies wrote.
“It’s been interesting, met some great people
but not for me any more.”
Days before Davies walked away, Darron Gibson, the
Manchester United midfield player, had opened an
account and closed it again within two hours,
seemingly because of his unwillingness to put up
with the abuse he was receiving. Some of the
messages aimed in the direction of the Ireland
player included: “@dgibbo28 your performance on
Saturday was one of the worst I’ve ever seen of
any utd player. scared of the ball much?” and
“@dgibbo28 you are the worst player ever to play
for United.”
Each and every time Twitter chalks up negative
headlines, you can hear the suits who run sporting
organisations across the world shifting
uncomfortably in their luxurious leather seats.
A number of football clubs, Newcastle United,
Sunderland and Manchester United among them, have
placed contractual restrictions on their
players’ use of Twitter, issuing strict
guidelines prohibiting revelations of
“privileged” information that may offer
opponents an advantage — what is said in the
dressing room must stay in the dressing room, they
say.
Mick McCarthy, the Wolverhampton Wanderers
manager, went farther after narrowly missing out
on signing Steve Sidwell from Aston Villa last
season. His interest was tweeted by another
player, Greg Halford, who was sold soon
afterwards. A law firm came to the club to brief
the Wolves players on their responsibilities; very
little has been tweeted from Molineux since.
“Some twit tweeted it,” McCarthy said.
“Players are going to get themselves into
trouble over Twitter, I can tell. They have to be
careful what they say on it.” It would, however,
be a shame if we were to sanitise the genuine
views of our sporting heroes simply because we are
afraid of controversy.
Joey Barton, the Queens Park Rangers midfielder,
has more friends than enemies with his
philosophical musings. He has revealed himself to
be far more intelligent and complex than many had
regarded him.
Rio Ferdinand, widely viewed as the master of the
art, won respect and admiration for challenging
Sepp Blatter over his views on racism last month.
It was a row that made headlines that Sir Alex
Ferguson may rather have avoided, but allowed us
to read and understand how the former England
captain was thinking and feeling at that very
moment, without a club official asking him to
avoid the topic. It was refreshing, it was
eloquent, it was Twitter and sport at its very
best. The Fifa president attempted to respond but
the damage had been done.
Elsewhere, we have seen the development of
“Twinterviews” between journalists and sports
stars, while many stars hold Q & A sessions with
fans when they find themselves at a loose end for
half an hour.
Twitter has developed into something far more than
just a place to follow celebrities, however.
Having been drawn by the chance to follow their
heroes, the great unwashed have discovered a place
to find like-minded, witty and informative
“tweeps” with whom they can discuss sport.
Twitter has become a place to go while you watch
sport, to share observations, criticisms,
hero-worshipping and hatred. Some of 2011’s
sporting events have attracted incredible
followings, with the women’s football World Cup
final between Japan and the United States
attracting more than 7,196 tweets per second in
July. Manchester United’s defeat by Barcelona in
the Champions League final last May fell just
short of that mark, with 6,303 tweets per second.
Statistics such as these reflect the incredible
power of Twitter to bring sports fans together at
any one moment, something that is likely to break
new barriers during next summer’s Olympic Games
in London. Who knows how many tweets the world
will be able to cram into the nine point something
seconds it is likely to take Usain Bolt to run 100
metres?
As with anything such as this, Twitter’s love
affair with sport will have a shelf life. The FA
will, no doubt, have already discussed how to
prevent running into problems at next summer’s
European Championship finals, while the 2012
Olympics promises to take Twitter to new heights,
with thousands of the world’s greatest athletes
giving their followers unparalleled insights into
life in the competitors’ village.
Time will tell whether 2011 was the year when
Twitter’s relationship with sport peaked.
Stricter guidelines and restrictions are coming
from those who govern sport.
Those who are different, outspoken and
controversial are often viewed as troublemakers,
rather than celebrated as characters in a world
that lacks them. A balance must be struck and
governing bodies must learn to take the rough with
the smooth, the tweet with the sour, if the
relationship is to be allowed to thrive.
The fans need it, but so do their heroes.

Source - The Times(UK)

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