A combined 50 million people "follow the eight existing professional sports franchises in Southern California" on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but the people who run those accounts' jobs "didn't exist five years ago," according to Clay Fowler of the Inland Valley DAILY BULLETIN. The Lakers have "six full-time employees who contribute to the team's social media efforts." The Kings are "largely credited with conceptualizing what has become the norm," creating a feed that is focused on "humor, sarcasm, wit and trash talking." Lakers Dir of New Media Ty Nowell said, "I love what the Kings do. I think they’re the best at it and they spawned a million people that want to be them. Half the teams out there are trying to do what they do, mostly unsuccessfully." Kings Senior Dir of Digital Media & Production Pat Donahue is the "first to say his work on Twitter wouldn't have gained national recognition without the eighth-seeded Kings' run to the franchise's first Stanley Cup" in '12. Fowler: "The quips, the jabs and the originality combined with the upset victories generated the perfect storm." Galaxy Dir of Digital Media & Marketing Chris Thomas said, "The Kings' 2012 Cup run changed sports and social media." The Galaxy, one of the "first in MLS to adopt a snarky, humorous and sarcastic tone with its Twitter account, has continued its evolution to avoid boredom at all costs." The Galaxy and the Kings, among others, have "already cycled through the trend of trash talking other teams on social media and are on the tail end of the GIF craze." The Lakers, meanwhile, "don’t make a practice of engaging in the banter with other team accounts." Lakers COO Tim Harris: "It’s not our brand. In general we don’t have to shock and awe because we don’t have to wave our hands and say 'Look at me'" (Inland Valley DAILY BULLETIN, 11/25).
