Controversies surround the idea of players having their own social media accounts on any platform. However, the National Basketball Association has taken a step towards connecting their players to the league and its fans through social media. You can usually find handles or “at-names” in sports like baseball where the team’s official account is visible behind home plate (e.g. @Yankees).
The NBA did something completely different and groundbreaking. @NBA can be found on their Spalding-brand official basketballs. The handle is visible directly to the left of the official NBA logo.
Senior Vice President Melissa Rosenthal Brenner said that the NBA was doing this as a commitment to taking part in the conversation (as per Darren Rovell at ESPN.com). She also stated that there are over 660 million fans that use social media sites to follow the league.
There are 30 teams in the NBA that each have large fan-bases who require interaction. Without interaction through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the fans would have no way of virtually connecting with the players. Players like Joel Embiid are heavily connected to the fans.
When players and fans can connect, it creates opportunities for good public relations and better relationships. The NBA is doing just that by throwing @NBA on each Spalding game-ball.
Jonathan Weisman is a student at Monmouth University, where he studies both marketing and public relations. He is interested in most sports played around the world on both professional and non-professional levels. Weisman currently works for Aramark as a Marketing Intern and looks to pursue a career in either the marketing or PR fields.
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