Manchester City has agreed a partnership with American company Mass Relevance that will see it become the first Barclays Premier League club to harness Twitter to enhance fans' match day experience, reports Sport Business.
Following successful trial integrations during matches against Newcastle United and Norwich City in 2011, the club plans to expand these initiatives throughout the year. City's social enhancements include the use of Twitter to engage and entertain fans who tune into the TV broadcasts at City Square, a dedicated fan area near the club's shop.
The club also integrates real-time fan Tweets on Etihad Stadium's video boards, big screens and other stadium distribution channels.
The initiatives are powered by Mass Relevance's social engagement platform that allows the club to instantly aggregate, curate and deliver the best fan content into stadium displays, TV broadcasts and its official website.
"They are an opportunity for City supporters from around the world to connect with one another and feel part of the match day experience. Mass Relevance enables us to empower our fans and add a new dimension to our pre-match build up by being able to broadcast their Tweets in real time around the stadium big screens.
"This partnership continues our strategy of innovating with digital media in order to give fans more access to the club - to increase engagement and improve their experience."
Relevance CEO, Sam Decker, added: "Football fans are some of the most dedicated - and vocal - fans on the planet and real-time social content continues to play a key role in enhancing the experience whether you are at the match, watching on TV or following on your mobile device.
"We're very excited to work with Manchester City to kick off a new era of fan engagement and momentum moving into the 2012 season." The agreement with the Austin-based social curation technology firm will see the introduction of new social initiatives for City fans attending and watching matches during the remainder of this season.
"At City we have always believed that home games at the Etihad Stadium are not just exclusive to the 47,000 fans in the stands," said Richard Ayers, digital playmaker for Manchester City.
