Twitter + football = your future
Innovation in action is a beautiful thing.
Back in April, when Twitter and the National Football League announced a partnership that would see 10 NFL games streamed live on Twitter during the 2016 season, my first thought was, “Why?” I’ve got a TV and a laptop, which gives me a million different ways to see NFL action. When I want to watch football, I’m not thinking “Twitter.”
That was before the New York Jets traveled to Buffalo to play the Bills on Sept. 15.
It was the first of those 10 NFL games to be broadcast live on Twitter, so I decided to check it out. I fired up the Twitter app, hit the “Moments” tab, and then … whoa.
A live video feed of the game appeared at the top of my iPhone screen. Below that was the Twitter stream of commentary from folks who were watching the game, along with a text box where I could enter my own comments. It was a beautiful convergence. Last season, live-tweeting my thoughts about an NFL game meant sitting in front of my TV with my laptop open, watching one screen and then sharing my thoughts on another. Now, thanks to the Twitter / NFL partnership, I could do both on one screen, seamlessly, in real time. For live-tweeters like me, it was a magical experience.
If you’re not into the whole Twitter experience, this probably won’t mean a lot to you. But trust me when I say it’s game-changing.
The ways in which we consume content are changing before our very eyes. Content providers are joining forces to deliver meaningful, important, useful information to us in ways that are easier to digest than ever before. The implications of this go way beyond football.
Thanks to technological innovations spurred on by Moore’s law, we’re being informed, educated, and entertained in more ways — in more frictionless ways — than ever before. If you have content you want to share with people, that means you have an almost endless array of ways in which to reach your audience.
If you’re sticking with e-mail, you’re missing the boat.
Think about how you consume content. You’re on Facebook, and YouTube, and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and Instagram, and Snapchat, and SlideShare. So is your audience. Is your content there? Are you making it as easy as possible for your audience to consume and share your content?
This isn’t about Twitter and football. It’s about your future.
Start paying attention.