In my job at Kwantic, and also as a free time hobby, I use Twitter to follow the latest news and gurus to know what’s happening in our field of web analytics. I also use Twitter to promote my club team Espoo Blues Naiset and the Women's National Team, share links about women’s hockey and also follow other players, coaches, etc. in the women’s hockey world. Twitter is an interesting tool compared to e.g. Facebook in a way that you can openly follow just about anyone, even your toughest opponent in the rink if you’d like. It is also wonderful for following specific events in real time through people’s tweets and hashtags. If you don’t know what a hashtag is, see Twitter Support: What are hashtags (the "#" symbol)?
In Finland, even though the usage of Twitter is growing stedily, it is at the time used mainly by the people in the digital marketing field and not that many athletes or companies have yet found it and made real use of it. In the States companies are ahead in this area. I thought the same would be for women’s hockey, but I was amazed how few are actually using it. Or the another option is, I just can’t find them.
It seems that at the time in women’s hockey Twitter is more or less seen as another way in addition to blogs and web sites to communicate with fans. Well, I personally might not have that many of them, compared to Team USA’s @angelaruggiero with almost 40 000 followers (*respect*), but in addition to communicating with fans, Twitter is also a great channel to have discussions and follow the trending topics in the field you’re interested in.
And also, at it's best, Twitter can be a place to create a global, international community around a common thing we love and care for - Women's Hockey.
What is missing in women’s hockey is that people have not yet found each other in Twitter. And why? A missing common hashtag for one. For example, in our web analytics field, people use the hashtag #measure, if they like to label their post as analytics stuff or find other people, news and discussions in the analytics field. This is something people have agreed on and started using as the label and symbol for analytics related tweets. For women’s hockey, the obvious hashtag would be #womenshockey, or why not an abbreviation, #woho?
Before the Olympic Games, I followed the hashtag #womenshockey through my Tweetdeck, but couldn’t see that much activity there. During the Games, the usage has grown, but I’d be glad to see it used more and more!
In Finland, even though the usage of Twitter is growing stedily, it is at the time used mainly by the people in the digital marketing field and not that many athletes or companies have yet found it and made real use of it. In the States companies are ahead in this area. I thought the same would be for women’s hockey, but I was amazed how few are actually using it. Or the another option is, I just can’t find them.
It seems that at the time in women’s hockey Twitter is more or less seen as another way in addition to blogs and web sites to communicate with fans. Well, I personally might not have that many of them, compared to Team USA’s @angelaruggiero with almost 40 000 followers (*respect*), but in addition to communicating with fans, Twitter is also a great channel to have discussions and follow the trending topics in the field you’re interested in.
And also, at it's best, Twitter can be a place to create a global, international community around a common thing we love and care for - Women's Hockey.
What is missing in women’s hockey is that people have not yet found each other in Twitter. And why? A missing common hashtag for one. For example, in our web analytics field, people use the hashtag #measure, if they like to label their post as analytics stuff or find other people, news and discussions in the analytics field. This is something people have agreed on and started using as the label and symbol for analytics related tweets. For women’s hockey, the obvious hashtag would be #womenshockey, or why not an abbreviation, #woho?
Before the Olympic Games, I followed the hashtag #womenshockey through my Tweetdeck, but couldn’t see that much activity there. During the Games, the usage has grown, but I’d be glad to see it used more and more!
3 comments:
First Terhi.
Congratulations today
Second, the #womenshockey hashtag finally seems to be catching on, and I clearly credit you with getting it going. It was you after all who asked me to start using it, and I have.
Congratulations on everything you accomplished both on the ice and off.
Sincerely, John H.
(aka- @Canadagraphs )
Hi Canadagraphs,
It was nice to meet you at Vancouver. Thank you for the kind words on the hashtag matter and congratulations!
Hi Terhi,
think the idea is a good one and started using it today. Don't quite like woho as a short form. how about "wmhk" it is a bit closer to the actual name and at a quick glance people can get the idea.
I started www.Winih.com with the idea of creating an online wms hky community, providing context and details on both players and country teams so agree with you wholeheartedly that the game needs online connections. we are building both content and user needs slowly but steadily. Later this year we hope to do a survey to get some more feedback from players/fans/coaches and media.
thanks for your good work and of course congrats on the beautiful bronze win.
best
Elizabeth Etue
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