As I sat watching Germany thrash Brazil the other week, mouth agape at what was happening before me, it seemed completely natural to (at the same time) also be watching the dismantling of the host team via Twitter on my phone/tablet.
With each and every goal that flew (or let’s be honest, was passed) into the Brazilian net, the Twitter-sphere seemed to somehow develop a life of its own.
It was literally impossible to follow every joke, picture, meme, witticism or display of outright incredulity that was posted onto the site because there was so much content to devour.
It occurred to me that if anyone was to ask what Twitter is actually for, then you could point them to the tweets posted during the match, and right there you had your answer. In effect, Twitter at this very time was augmenting the game for both me and millions of others.
This is the case for any event, sport or TV show that you follow – if we’re at home watching a game we don’t just have the other people in the room to share our views or discuss controversial decisions with, instead we can effectively ‘converse’ with everyone else in the whole social media-using world who is sharing that same experience with you.
This is all about the ‘social’ in social media and when I later learnt that the game had generated 36.5million tweets and had become the single most talked-about sports game ever on Twitter, I wasn’t in the least bit surprised. People want to share their view of a common experience – perhaps too much sometimes – but they want to hear and learn what other people think about those very same events, and they also want to agree with them or (in lots of cases) vehemently disagree with them.
For those who are not ‘on’ Twitter this may all seem rather mystifying. But the Brazil example is one monumental communal experience bringing this all back to business the effect can be the same for an industry exhibition or event.
At a very base level by using Twitter you can easily see who is attending the same event as you by use of the event hashtag and you can get an immediate view of, for example, the speakers, presentations or overall content.
Even if it’s a simple case of following those other Twitter-using attendees and then finding one or two of them to talk to during the coffee or lunch breaks, this is a great networking tool and one which could deliver you new relationships and business which, without your use of Twitter, simply wouldn’t have been possible.
So, while Twitter is great for the fun stuff, the images of Scolari ripping off his mask to reveal David Moyes underneath, or the statue of Christ the Redeemer with his face in his hands, it can also have a genuine business benefit.
Why not try it out at the next event you attend and I suspect your enjoyment of that day will be heightened and you might even make a few new connections and business relationships. Social media is all about what you put in, and one thing is certain, whatever the outcome, you’re probably not going to feel like David Luiz did after the game against the Germans.
