The NBA and Twitter are again collaborating on a series of social media initiatives for the Finals, including the distribution of exclusive 360-degree video content before and after each game. The 360-degree video, also involving official NBA partner Samsung, will focus primarily on pregame warm-ups and player introductions, as well as postgame celebrations. Twitter’s plans for the Finals also include a new customization on Vine in which double-tapping on a particular post from the @NBA feed will generate a basketball icon instead of a heart. The icon will change to the Larry O’Brien Trophy during clinching games. These are the first such customizations Vine has done. The use of certain hashtags will again generate Finals and basketball-themed emojis, such as the Warriors’ and Cavaliers’ logos and the O’Brien Trophy. More than 7 million tweets during last year’s Finals contains hashtag-triggered emojis. This will additionally be the first NBA Finals since the debut last fall of Twitter’s Moments section, and that area will contain a variety of Finals-related content. The league will also use Twitter’s live video platform Periscope for behind-the-scenes content through its @NBA feed.
