Twitter on the court?

Shaq with 2.1 million followers is probably the biggest user of Twitter among the NBA players. Even the NBA has its own Twitter account with more than 1 million followers. But can you imagine an NBA player, sitting on the bench and sending out tweets as the game is in progress? It has been done before.

And now NBA commissioner David Stern is following the lead of the NFL and will soon issue guidelines on how professional players use social media tools inside and outside a game. NFL had recently announced its guidelines on the use of social media. It now prohibits players, coaches and football operations personnel from using social media networks like Twitter and Facebook 90 minutes before kickoff to the end of traditional media interviews after games. And NFL game officials are banned from using social media at all times. ESPN is also developing stricter guidelines.

According to a Yahoo! Sports story, Stern says, “Obviously, there is a happy medium between tweeting before the game and tweeting from our bench during the game.”

Stern says players need to stay focused on their game. “It would look unusual for a guy sitting on the bench to pick up his cell phone, and I think we can agree that he probably shouldn’t be writing e-mails. It’s not about Twitter; it’s about the line of communication. That’s what we’re focusing on.”

Yes, Twitter and other social media platforms help players connect to fans, but using these tools during games is definitely taboo! And if I was a coach, I would also restrict mobile phones in the locker rooms or on the bench. Like students inside a classroom, players need to focus and concentrate on their game. That is already tough with thousands of screaming fans.

Already, players and even coaches are on YouTube, facebook and Twitter. They all videos and profiles which keep fans updated. And they are just like you and me, fascinated on how technoloft works, in real time, 24/7.

There is always the right time and place for technology to work. And the court or the bench isn’t one of these places. You are either looking to get fired or get benched throughout the season!

YouTube In October 2008

Would you like to know how many online videos Internet users in the States watched in YouTube? According to October 2008 date from comScore Video Metrix Service, a total of 13.5 billion… yup, billion videos were viewed by users in the States. That is quite a staggering figure.


YouTube accounted for around 98% of total videos viewed, followed by Fox Interactive Media with 520 million videos (3.8 percent). Yahoo! Sites accounted for 2.7% or 363 million followed by Viacom Digital at 2.3% or 305 million video. Hulu, a joint venture of NBC and Fox featuring full-length broadcast TV programs, ranked sixth with 235 million videos viewed (1.7 percent).

These figures are from the recent data released by the comScore Video Metrix service last December 9, 2008.

Other findings showed that the average online video viewer watched 274 minutes of video. A total of 99.5 million viewers watched 5.3 billion videos on YouTube.com with an average of 53.2 videos per viewer.
Me? Not even five minutes of YouTube. I really spend more minutes at Facebook or Friendster or Yahoo Sports!

Just read that LA Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns!


And tonight, Chief and I will watch "IyoTube" at Bubble Gang. Last week, we really had a blast as they featured "Macarena."

12 million on-line videos viewed!

The digital world continues to expand in numbers and figures as more Americans viewed 12 billion videos online last May 2008. According to comScore, Fox Interactive Media gained an increase in market share on videos viewed at MySpace.com

May 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, reported an increase of 45% from last year. Our guess is a good as mine as which site accounted for more video viewed. Google sites had most videos viewed with 4.2 billion videos. I can’t imagine how many on-line hours that translates to. This represented 35% of all videos viewed.

Yup, YouTube.com accounted for more than 98% of all video viewed. The first videos were probably uploaded around February 2005, when three former Paypal employees (Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim) created YouTube. It is estimated around 100 million vidoes are hosted on their website! And growing every hour with around ten hours of video uploaded every minute.

In second place is Fox Interactive. They had 778 million videos (6.4 percent), which was showed a 1.3 share points versus April.


Yahoo! Sites (3rd) with 347 million followed by Microsoft Sites (4th) with 246 million. Yahoo was founded by two young Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994. Your guess is a good as mine as to how many yahoo addresses we have. I have four!

At Hulu.com, which is a joint venture of NBC and Fox debuted in 10th position with 88 million videos being viewed. Please note that this site features full-length broadcast TV programs.

Other major findings from May 2008 revealed that The average online video viewer watched 228 minutes of video. Me? Not even an hour of on-line video viewing time. Hehehe.

Plus, around 82.2 million viewers watched 4.1 billion videos on YouTube.com or around 50.4 videos per viewer. The duration of the average online video was 2.7 minutes.

You can visit http://www.comscore.com for more on-line news and updates.