Manchester City Football Club to broadcast fans’ tweets on giant screens

It seems that UK football club Manchester City is serious about social media, as news emerges that club will be broadcasting fans’ tweets from around the world in real-time on giant screens at the stadium.

The following message was tweeted from the club’s official Twitter account earlier today:

“The @MCFCGeeks are trying out something cool at tomorrow’s game against @NorwichCityFC. Get involved! #blueview http://twitpic.com/7n1o1q”

And it linked to this image:

Manchester City actually tried this social media experiment for the club’s last home game against Newcastle United, when it let two Twitter accounts – @LessonInPride & @viewfromablue – tweet their match thoughts directly on to the big screens at City Square, which is a dedicated fan area by the club’s shop, and also on the screen at Etihad stadium where it plays its home games. But the club announced today:

“Before and after tomorrow’s game against Norwich we will look to integrate fan tweets into the pre and post match entertainment in City Square. All tweets containing the hashtag #blueview will be picked up and moderated by the MCFC webteam before being displayed on the big screens in front of thousands.”

The trial will take place between 1pm and 2.30pm, and then from 5.15pm until 6pm. As anyone who has tried using their mobile phones at football games will note, there can be 3G connectivity issues in and around the stadium on match days, to which Man City have suggested fans try texting their tweets.

Manchester United may have been trumping its city rivals in the silverware stakes for decades, but when Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, from Abu Dhabi, bought into Manchester City back in 2008 and started investing in the club, the team’s fortunes on the pitch have started meandering on an upwards trajectory.

But as we reported back in August, the world’s richest football club has set out its digital agenda, and its social media presence has well and truly been cranked up a notch. Indeed, in October we noted that Manchester City had become England’s first football team to sign a YouTube content deal.

With that in mind, Manchester City also announced earlier today that its YouTube channel had just exceeded 7m views.