This week's Harf Time segment focused on Kobe Bryant live tweeting his 81-point game that was being shown on replay on NBA TV, and the Sports Business Networking Night at Honey Bar on January 24. We've had 118 RSVPs for Melbourne so far, so looking forward to seeing a good turnout.
If you haven't RSVP'd yet, you are still more than welcome to come along to what should be a great night.
Kobe live tweeting
Kobe Bryant live tweeted his 81-point game shown on NBA TV yesterday. It was great to watch unfold on Twitter and holds a lot of options for sports in the future. Here's some of his best tweets:
Luke, the only white boy with a jerry curl #countonkobe
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 22, 2013
After the 3rd quarter, @reallamarodom tells me “you can't get 60”, then half way through he said “you can't get 70” #countonkobe — Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 22, 2013
Down 14, I'm heating up…at this point I wouldn't pass a kidney stone #countonkobe — Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 22, 2013
Networking Night – #sbnight
The Networking Night being run in conjunction with Russell Scibetti‘s Business of Sports website is January 24 at The Honey Bar, South Melbourne. The event is taking place in multiple cities around the world. The US-based Networking Night will be happening during today so you can follow it using the hashtag #sbnight shown below and by the #sbnight crowd cameo here.
Tag it #SBnight
Until Next Week
Listen to Harf Time on Wednesdays (at 2:45pm) when Sean Callanan discuss sports digital with Daniel Harford.
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Podcast transcription
Harf: Sports Geek HQ.com, Sean Callanan joins us every week on Harf Time, he’s back again, good day Sean.
Sean: Good day Harf, how’s it going?
Harf: Going really well thanks. Got an interesting email from you this afternoon about one of the topics for today in regards to Kobe Bryant.
Sean: Yeah new to Twitter, was a long hold out for Twitter and finally signed up. His Twitter handle obviously is @kobebryant, quite appropriate.
Harf: Pretty straight forward.
Sean: Pretty straight forward. So he started tweeting and started engaging fans, pushed a bit by the guys of Nike. So he did a Twitter takeover of the Nike account before he jumped in and made his own account. I don’t think we discussed it over the Olympics, he was using Facebook over the Olympics and sort of engaging fans, and he’s gone the reverse model. Normally athletes will start with Twitter because it’s an easy platform and then they might go to Facebook to provide stuff. But what he did this morning…
Harf: He’s taking it to new levels
Sean: New levels. NBA TV were replaying his 81 point game and he announced it and he was going to live tweet during the game and tell people what he was thinking, what was going on.
Harf: What a great idea.
Sean: Used the hash tag #countonkobe and he started off with ‘I scored 81 in this game #countonkobe’, speaking in the third person as a hashtag. So he was having a bit of fun with himself with the game, watching these shots, the easy shots I missed, I should have a hundred. He opened up with a bit of that and he was taking a bit of feedback, Shaq said did you just wake up and say you were going to get guarded by Jalen Rose and thought you were going to get 80, he replied back to Shaq ‘LOL’
Harf: What a great idea though and a way to get people into your world and your headspace and whilst taking a bit of the Mickey out of yourself at the same time. But just for fans, for Laker fans and Kobe Bryant fans, as Sloane Stevens takes that second set, to get that engagement and understanding with him, that would be awesome.
Sean: Yeah so it was good, he was providing a bit of humour and Lamar Odom was saying ‘You can’t get 60’ and then Lamar Odom was saying ‘You can’t get 70’, he was paying out poor old Luke Walton, the only white boy with Jerry curl. So he’s having good fun with it, a really good way. We talked about the USA Olympics were on delay, one of the swimmers who won a gold medal actually live tweeted his medal event back in The States. And so he did it twelve hours after, not years after like Kobe, but he live tweeted and all the Americans are watching the event and his tweets are coming up in their stream as he’s doing a tumble turn going the other way. I have no doubt that people won, Kobe’s almost at a million followers and he’ll be ticking over that. But the amount of people that will have gone ‘I better watch this game because I want to know what he’s talking about’, ‘What did Phil Jackson say in that time out?’ or ‘What was he thinking when we were down 14?’ One of the best ones was ‘We’re down 14, I wouldn’t even pass a kidney stone’. He’s like ‘I’m going to be shooting and that’s what’s going to happen’, it’s so Kobe
Harf: What a great effort.
Sean: So it’s a great way and you can provide him that option, a really good way of him getting to Twitter, he still needs to fix up his Twitter. He hasn’t filled out his profile and his background is still the Twitter blue and stuff so he hasn’t done the branding tips that he probably should do but he’s interacting with fans every now and again, he’s started a new craze because he keeps taking pictures of his legs in the bath in the ice.
Harf: As you do.
Sean: Keep it clean! You know icing down after games and people keep sending him, he keeps complaining about hash tag #assfreezing. So people are now sending him photos of their legs in baths, starting a new craze, it’s like planking. It’s ‘icing’ or whatever!
Harf: Whatever it is!
Sean: He’s showing a bit of his personality, he’s not that grumpy guy that’s fierce and intense all the time. So he’s having a bit of fun with it and maybe the way the Laker season is happening he needs a little bit of levity in his life.
Harf: I think it’s fantastic, what a great way to get fans into your world and let fans know what’s going on. During that magical moment, 81 points, second most points scored in history I think. You have a night tomorrow night at Honey Bar?
Sean: Sports business networking night. Come along, check out our site, you can RSVP, we’re going to be at 80 people turning up so come along, bring your cards, do a bit of networking and meet some cool people.Harf: Way to do it, Honey Bar tomorrow night, what time?
Sean: 6 until 9, we might go a little bit later.
Harf: 6 until 9, we might just keep going.
