As the Pirates "march toward perhaps their first winning season" in 18 years, they are "steadily building an Internet presence and increasing a fan base that hasn't gone to a meaningful late summer ball game in nearly two decades," according to Charlie Magovern of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. There is a "buzz surrounding the Pirates this summer that simply hasn't been felt in more than a decade, and although the feeling is quite intangible, social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, are valuable tools that quantify the team's rise in popularity." As active as some players are on Twitter, the Pirates "as an organization are equally, if not more, involved with social media." The Pirates "have more than doubled their Twitter following and seen a 30 percent increase in Facebook 'likes' since" Spring Training began in March. Pirates Manager of Business Communications Matt Nordby said, "Since the demographics using social media tend to trend towards the younger fan base, they are great avenues for re-establishing that direct connection with fans that may not have had as much interest in the Pirates in the past." As the front office "has worked to put a better team on the field, other parts of the organization made moves to ensure that the club capitalizes in the long term from this season's success." Songwhale CEO Ty Morse, whose company works with the Pirates to improve mobile fan engagement, said, "The Pirates have been laying the groundwork for when this buzz would actually happen. They've done a great job of preparing the fan base for engaging with the team." The team's official Facebook page "has more than 236,000 'likes' and is regularly updated with new content." The Pirates' official Twitter account, @BucsInsider, "has more than 18,000 followers and the majority of its 3,900-plus tweets have come between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., or the most common game time" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 7/31).
PHILLY PHANATICS: In Philadelphia, John George notes the Phillies have "embraced social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to not only sell tickets and merchandise and disseminate news, but also to make more direct connections with their fans." The Phillies "award prizes -- such as a Phanatic ornament -- to selected fans who retweet to their friends a message from" the team. The franchise has "two Twitter accounts: @PhilaPhillies, which is run in-house for local promotions and announcements and has more than 45,000 followers; and @Phillies, which is run by Major League Baseball with a national and global focus and has 633,000 followers." The team's official Facebook page "has more than 959,000 fans." Phillies Manager of Marketing Initiatives Mary Ann Gettis said that the team has "hosted four 'social media nights' at Citizens Bank Park." A fifth social media night "is planned for September." Phillies Dir of Marketing & Special Projects Michael Harris said that the "beauty of social media is it lets the team try out new marketing ideas -- like tweet your ticket -- in real time." Harris added, "We are all still trying to get our hands around what works and what doesn't work." Harris noted that the Phillies "lead all teams in 'check-ins,' where fans using Major League Baseball's At Bat mobile phone application can let their Facebook friends know they are at Citizens Bank Park when they arrive at the ballpark" (PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/29 issue).
