NBA 2.0: Making Moves in the Age of Twitter

• May 14th, 2010
• Posted by Andy W.
• Posted in Basketball, Dwayne Wade, LeBron, NBA 2.0, Social Media, Twitter, We Miss the Sonics

The NBA playoffs are in full swing but this summer’s epic free agent class is overshadowing much of the playoff buzz. Why is this? Two of the three best players in the league, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are going to be free agents this summer along with other superstars like Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson and many more. Media, fans and teams alike are rushing to create a social media buzz around why these players should stay or go. The theory is similar to that of the Betty White SNL Facebook campaign that created enough buzz to convince SNL producers to invite the 88 year old Golden Girls star to host last week’s show. If you create enough chatter they will come (or stay).

The Miami Heat’s marketing department just launched a campaign to keep Wade at http://www.wewantwade.com.  This interactive microsite has generated enough traffic so far to crash their servers. The website is a “place to show your support for our MV3 and to help keep Dwanye Wade in Wade County”. They’ll be distributing media and fan kits to help Miamians show their support for their Chicago born franchise player. It also hosts recent tweets, video content and a built in message board where you can send Wade a message. There is also a push to get momentum behind the #wewantwade hashtag on Twitter. There are well over 200 #wewantwade mentions today alone. Here’s mine “#wewantwade in Chicago”. The funny thing about these campaigns is that people are turning them around to encourage these top tier players to go, not stay. Despite us rabble-rousers, kudos are definitely due to the Heat’s marketing department for creating a robust and interactive site that promises more free content up until Wade makes his decision (to play for the Bulls).

On the other side of the coin, the New York Daily News launched http://www.getlebron.com to encourage the reigning MVP to come to the Big Apple. They are also pushing the #getlebron hashtag which has blown up since LeBron and his fellow choke artists blew it last night. The site boasts a photo mash-up section where you can insert pictures of King James by New York landmarks and an open letter to LeBron discussion page. The effort that this traditional media outlet is putting behind this campaign is impressive and I expect it to really ramp now that the Cav’s season is over.

This is the question that Chris Bosh asked his followers on Twitter a couple of weeks ago, my reply “@chrisbosh GO TO CHICAGO DUH”. It created a lot of buzz in the sports world and left me wondering did he actually expect to get any helpful answers. To me this use of social media was a conundrum and seemed to just be a ploy to get @replies. But it does lead me to believe that the more active free agent tweeters will give us hints about their choices as the summer rolls on.

These and other free agency related social media efforts are just tipping off so consider yourselves ahead of the curve on this buzz when it hits full speed on July 1^st when free agency (and my summer) officially begin.