Old School Meets New School: Knicks Tweetup 2010 #NYKTweetup

What on earth was I doing at a Knicks game on a Saturday night? I’m not a Knicks fan. And I was getting over the worst cold I’ve ever had. So why would I drag myself out of my nice warm, cozy apartment to see a team that’s lost nine of its last ten games? Because even though I’m not a fan of what the team is doing on the court (and really, who is these days?), I am a fan of what it’s doing off the court in the social media space. The Knicks are so committed to developing its social media presence and engaging with its fans that the team hosted its first ever “Tweetup” at Madison Square Garden on February 27, 2010. Ironically, this decidedly “new school” event took place before “Old School Night” at the Garden for the Knicks against the Memphis Grizzlies.

For $40, Tweetup attendees got a ticket for the game in the official “Tweep Zone” (Section 333), a “Declare Your Following” t-shirt and the opportunity to attend a pre-game panel on social media with Jack Dorsey (@jack), co-founder of Twitter, Amy Martin (@DigitalRoyalty) of Digital Royalty, Jim DeLorenzo (@jdelorenzo) of Octagon and Peter Robert Casey (@Peter_R_Casey), the first credentialed sports microblogger (for St. John’s’ basketball). The Knicks also posted Tweets on the “Tweep2Screen” (jumbotron) during the game (one of mine was posted!). We were also supposed to have a post-game meet and greet with Wilson Chandler, but a last minute family emergency prevented him from attending. No worries, the evening was absolutely worth the $40 price of admission. Of course on the court the Knicks lost to the Grizzlies 120-107 thanks to Zach Randolph’s monster 31 point, 25 rebound performance against his former team. For photos from the Tweetup and the game (including the halftime performance by the Sugar Hill Gang), check out my set on Flickr.

Highlights from the Twitter panel:

• Howard Rubin and Jordan Maleh of the Knicks (Jordan is the man behind @thenyknicks) emphasized how much the organization is committed to investing in social media and leveraging their digital assets moving forward. The fact that they hosted a Tweetup is just one example of this commitment to fan engagement as a priority.
• Peter Robert Casey presented a tremendous and stupendous overview of how he approaches Twitter a la Walt Clyde Frazier. [Hey Peter - can you post the presentation on your blog so everyone can enjoy it?]
• Amy Martin of Digital Royalty talked about her experiences working with athletes like Shaquille O’Neal in helping develop “Random Acts of Shaqness.”  Her overall message: social media is just one part of an overall marketing strategy and it’s important to translate on line relationships and good will into off line tangible results.
• Jim DeLorenzo of Octagon, the world’s largest sports marketing agency, presented two of the company’s Twitter-based initiatives: Twackle.com and FanWaves.com.
• Twackle is an on line compilation of sports-related tweets. It’s been around for a while and is being relaunched this week with Twackle 2.0. Check it out for yourself to see what it’s really about.
• FanWaves.com stood out as the “wow” product in my opinion. It’s an on line ad platform that allows athletes to monetize their tweets. Athletes sign on and select their rate. Once they’re part of the network, ads get served against their tweets. These unobtrusive ads appear at the top of the timeline. This will be very interesting to watch.
• Jack Dorsey didn’t talk enough in my opinion. Instead of giving him a chance to make a presentation or opening statement, he answered questions from the Twitterverse. While I appreciate the open forum, I would have loved to hear Jack talk more about his experience with Twitter as its grown from its infancy to what it is today.
• Jack still provided some interesting and helpful insights, including a reminder that it’s not about the number of followers you have, but about the quality of your content. Amen. He also emphasized the importance of transparency in communication on Twitter.
• It’s worth noting (and not surprising) that Jack participated in the Tweetup thanks to an exchange with @thenyknicks on Twitter (Jack is a Knicks fan).

And of course this wouldn’t be an event recap without my Tale of the Tweets (including my live tweeting of the panel and the game), so here we go:

NY Knicks Tweetup: Tale of the Tweets

• Yes I am at the Knicks tweetup. Not a joke. #NYKTweetup (@ Knicks Tweep Zone w/ @philcatelinet) http://4sq.com/99Q4Vs
• Howard Rubin of @thenyknicks: Focus on the future of fan brand engagement. #NYKTweetup
• http://twitpic.com/15pm1d – #NYKTweetup panel w/@jack @digitalroyalty @jdelorenzo @peter_r_casey
• Loving @Peter_R_Casey’s Walt “Clyde” Frazier themed Twitter presentation at #NYKTweetup Entertaining and informative.
• From @Peter_R_Casey and @DigitalRoyalty: bridge gap from virtual to real world. Take online relationships offline. #NYKTweetup
• Next up: @jdelorenzo of Octagon talks about Twackle.com as tweet hub. Relaunch of Twackle 2.0 this week. #NYKTweetup
• Whoa. Octagon launching Fan Waves, new Twitter monetization platform for athletes. Very interesting. #NYKTweetup
• Octagon reps Ryan Miller. I clapped. Not many others did. Clearly not a hockey crowd here. #jingoism #usa #NYKTweetup
• One of @jack’s biggest regrets: Twitter didn’t tell people what was going on when the fail whale appeared. #NYKTweetup
• Twitter used for civil protest gained momentum through a hashtag, not b/c he had a huge following. @Jack #NYKTweetup
• Watching the realtime search results for #NYKTweetup while at #NYKTweetup Meta.
• Amen. ET @BrianReich: @jack says focus should not be on follower numbers. Emphasis should be on content of tweets. #NYKTweetup
• Social media truly levels the playing field in terms of access. @DigitalRoyalty #NYKTweetupNY

Knicks-Grizzlies: Tale of the Tweets

• It’s “Old School Night” at MSG. If the Grizzlies don’t wear their Vancouver uniforms, I’ll be very disappointed.
• Grizzlies’ uniforms aren’t from Vancouver. I’m really not sure where they’re from. The Broadway production of Xanadu?
• Al Harrington scores. MSG PA system plays “You Can Call Me Al.” Paul Simon objects.
• Knicks City Dancers dancing to Poison. Old School indeed. I approve of BBD.
• Eddie House and Tracy McGrady are Knicks. Yeah it really doesn’t sound right. Not like they’ll be on the team for long anyway.
• Derrick Poundstone, World’s Strongest Man, in the house and featured on jumbotron during Flex-Cam. Good for him. #
• Benihana Chef Shootout? What the what? @MatthewHLeach
• Nice ceremony honoring NYPD search and rescue task force for efforts in Haiti. Bravo, gentlemen.
• Original members of Sugar Hill Gang at halftime for Knicks Old School Night. Outstanding.
• During the kids’ dunk contest, the PA announcer reminded the crowd that the Garden does not boo children.
• View of the court from @thenyknicks Tweep Zone #NYKTweetup http://flic.kr/p/7Gd7Xk
• Woot! One of my tweets from #NYKTweetup was just on the jumbotron at MSG! No photo.
• Resolved: thundersticks must be banned at all sporting events.
• I blame the Knicks. RT @PhilCatelinet: I blame my tweet for the Knicks’ sudden collapse.