Twitter on Sunday "launches the first of what it calls an ‘enhanced live event experience’" for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pocono 400, according to Jefferson Graham of USA TODAY. Twitter will “offer racing fans curated and algorithmic tweets at twitter.com/#nascar." The social media site has done similar work with TV shows like Fox’ “The X Factor” and other sporting events such as the Super Bowl “to enhance tweeting and viewing," but this is the “first time the company has devoted a specific area of its site to a live event.” Twitter VP/Media Chloe Sladden said that the experiment “could be a precursor to similar alliances in the future.” She added by working directly with NASCAR and TNT to curate tweets, “We can help surface the content faster.” Graham notes neither Twitter nor NASCAR “would discuss financial arrangements.” NASCAR VP/Digital Media Marc Jenkins said fans on Twitter looking for racing news would have needed “to follow every single driver and every single person in the industry to see it in their timelines.” But with the new Twitter/NASCAR alliance, he said the content “doesn’t get lost” (USA TODAY, 6/7).
BIRD ON THE COURSE: GOLFCHANNEL.com's Randall Mell wrote the LPGA yesterday unveiled its "new caddie bibs, featuring the handles of every player who has a Twitter account." The bibs will be worn by players at this week's at the Wegman's LPGA Championship. Golfer Suzann Pettersen said, "It's about time. It's almost so simple" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 6/6).
