Instead, David Crowley of Woburn, Mass., took home the prize.
Crowley, and his son Brendan, were among more than 175 Red Sox fans and Twitter gurus that packed Bleacher Bar on Lansdowne Street on Thursday for a chance to hang out, enjoy a view of the Fenway Park field and compete for a number of Sox-related prizes.
More importantly, though, the event — exclusive to Twitter followers of @RedSox — provided an opportunity for fans to put a face to their Twitter handle and interact, in-person.
“I think it’s a great way to meet people that share both an interest in the Red Sox, but also maybe an interest in technology and different ways,” Crowley said of the event. “I suspect a lot of people come from different walks of life, but the Red Sox definitely unite a lot of people around here, and [Twitter followers] are sort of like a subsection of Red Sox Nation.”
Social media continues to grow in popularity worldwide, and the Red Sox organization has seen the effects first-hand.
The Sox currently have over 80,000 Twitter followers and over 2.4 million fans on Facebook, which is a massive increase over the team’s social media analytics from just six or seven months ago when, according to Red Sox marketing manager, Ann Zeigler, the team had roughly 16,000 Twitter followers.
“I think social media is a way that a lot of our fans are communicating, and it’s kind of a great way that we can interact with them and engage with them, so I think that moving forward, we’ll be doing more things like this,” she said.
The decision to bring Twitter followers together for some old-fashioned, face-to-face mingling is one that Zeigler said the Red Sox made upon seeing other organizations do it. She said that, in addition to “TweetUps” prior to certain Red Sox home games — like Thursday’s event — the Sox may also host viewing parties to bring fans together while the team is on the road.
On Thursday, NESN’s Heidi Watney emceed the Red Sox TweetUp, handing out prizes — such as the Youkilis bat, an autographed Adrian Gonzalez jersey, autographed baseballs and ticket upgrades — to those in attendance that tweeted correct answers to trivia questions the fastest.
But encouraging this face-to-face interaction among fans is only a small portion of what the Red Sox have done to enhance its social media presence.
Zeigler said a major goal of using social media is to provide fans with original content, whether that be in the form of behind-the-scenes photos and videos, or providing answers to questions and other pertinent Red Sox and Fenway Park-related information.
Sarah Steidinger, of Attleboro, Mass., was inevitably ahead of the social media curve because of her profession. Working for a search agency in Newton, Mass, and blogging about the Red Sox on the side, Steidinger has been using Twitter for roughly five years, but she said she’s noticed more and more interaction via the medium recently.
Steidinger says the real value of Twitter, though, lies in the unique opportunity that fans now have.
“I think for such a long time, not that fans weren’t recognized, but it brings a new level of recognition to fans,” she said. “Seeing if you get a re-tweet or a mention, I think it kind of enlightens people and brings them closer, and it enhances their fandom.”
Melissa Gardner, of Pawtucket R.I., agreed, adding that it’s “making the world smaller.”
Simon Gee, a Quincy, Mass., native who won a J.D. Drew autographed baseball for correctly identifying the game in which Carlton Fisk hit his famous World Series home run, said social media keeps him in the know and is becoming increasingly popular because of the ease with which one can access information.
“Everybody wants real-time, everybody wants to be in the know … and Twitter is the first place most people go,” he said. “A vast majority of people are on Twitter.”
Whether or not it’s truly the majority, there’s no denying Twitter’s growing popularity, as well as the exclusive access it grants.
With new content from in the clubhouse, to on the field and in the press box, Red Sox fans, and sports fans everywhere, have an inside look at places that extend beyond the traditional confines of media access.
Perhaps Twitter really is changing the world, 140 characters at a time. It’s a notion that’s hard to grasp, but those at Thursday’s Red Sox TweetUp have already begun to realize it.
