Tweeting Soccer

I chose to tweet about a Spanish Soccer League game between Barcelona and Getafe (a city very close to Madrid). While it may sound random that I chose to watch and tweet about Spanish Soccer, the truth is that the Spanish league has a greater audience in El Salvador, than does the local league. The quality is that much better.

The game can only be seen by people who have a certain cable company (which I don't) and it was during lunch time, so I decided to go to a restaurant to watch it. I was posting messages during the second half.

The experience was exciting, but also a bit stressful. At certain points, the game was moving so fast that I would still be posting a comment, when the next play happened.

I had done a live tweet before, but I had done it about a "gathering" with a political leader. The soccer game certainly required more speed .  What made it even harder was that, in order to understand what was going on, I needed to watch the screen.  Thus, when I looked down to type, I had to be make sure that I wasn't missing out on something important (I was tweeting on my Blackberry. Since I was at a public space, I felt it was more comfortable than on a laptop. However, it did mean that I couldn't type and look at the TV screen simultaneously.)

Lessons Learned:

• If you are going to tweet about a fast moving event such as a soccer game, know that you probably won't enjoy the game as much as if you were just watching.
• Don't plan to order and eat lunch while watching and tweeting a game (it can get complicated and messy).
• Although typing on a Blackberry might be a little slower than on a laptop, using a Blackberry lets your tweeting be more discreet, avoiding making anyone else or yourself feel uncomfortable.
• Check to see which Hashtags that are already being used can work for you (I didn't do that and had to guess what would be likely Hashtag ).
• When tweeting about a soccer game, it is hard not to let your team preference show (my original intention was to be a neutral reporter, but when I started I realized that it would be much more fun and more realistic to make my comments as a Barcelona fan).

While both can be used to report an event, using Twitter and using a blog produce two very different results.  Tweets require the reporter to be more strategic: messages have to be short, once they are sent they can't be edited, and they are simultaneously "competing" with thousands of other tweets.  Blogs on the other hand, allow for more detail and fluidity.  Twitter worked great for a soccer game.

Screen shot of my tweeting.

Below, the Tweets I sent during the game:

• #Real Madrid is about to start their game... They are one point above #Barcelona in the championship 
• Except for #Piques' Red... #Barcelona played a great game 
• Goals by #Messi, #Villa and #Pedro 
• #Barcelona had possession of the ball 66per cent of the time 
• Annndddd.... The game is over.... #Barcelona wins!!!! 3 - O 
• The extra time has begun.... The referee says 3 minutes... 
• #Barcelona is back to dominating the game... One minute remains 
• OMG!!! Getafe should have scored... The player was alone, but he kicked straight to the goalkeepers hands 
• #Barcelona fans can relax .... 9 minutes remain and the score is 3-1 
• Foal.... Getafe gets a Red and now both teams are down to 10 players 
• Getafe has changes completely!!! That goal changed their play 
• #Xavi is replaced with Busquette... Its not clear why. 
• Villa is replaced with Milito ... #Barcelona needs to replace the defense they lost.. 
• The punishment: a penalty.... And it gets in... #Barcelona 3 - Getafe 1 and #Barcelona is left with only 10 players! 
• #Pique gets a red, he's out 
• The goal was the result of 2 mistakes... The goal keeper and the defense 
• #Barcelona 3- Getafe 0....
• Goooooooooaaaaaaalllll...... Pedro scores.... 
• The Getafe player deserved a red card, but he only got yellow 
• But #Messi is fine.. 
• #Messi suffers from a foul as he was approaching the post... That was a strong blow.... 
• It looked like #Barcelona was going to score, but it was an off-side anyway 
• Uff... Great save #Barcelona 
• Excellent work Villa and Messi, great first half 
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