ESPNU Develops Twitter Feed To Follow Big 12 Men's Tournament

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

ESPNU Develops Twitter Feed In Conjunction With Big 12 Tournament

ESPNU, in partnership with Charlotte-based Sports Media Challenge, has developed a Twitter feed running in conjunction with its ongoing coverage this week of the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament. Marking another effort in the network’s exploration of the red-hot instant social networking platform, the Big 12 Twitter feed joins other recent ESPN efforts on the platform involving “PTI,” NFL blog coverage and Rebecca Lobo’s coverage of conference and national tournament play in women’s college basketball. “PTI” has picked up more than 5,000 followers to its Twitter feed in about a week, while Lobo garnered more than 1,000 in about 24 hours. Sports Media Challenge has been active in Twitter work throughout the industry, including well-publicized counsel for the Suns and C Shaquille O'Neal last fall. ESPN Regional TV Exec Producer Mike Moore, whose company produces and syndicates coverage of the Big 12 under the name Big 12 Network, said, "A lot of people have obviously become very aware of this, and what we’re exploring now is how to integrate this into our coverage and make it meaningful. We’re doing a lot of experimenting to see where this all goes.”