NBA and social media go together like Forrest Gump and Jenny

The NBA and social media go together like peas and carrots or Jenny and Forrest Gump. More so than any other sport, the NBA’s popularity is growing from social media engagement.

The NBA and its players are the most engaging on social media of any of the  professional sports and it has become a major contributing factor to the growth in popularity of their brand.

Tom Brady and Sidney Crosby are the best players in their sport yet neither has a Twitter account.

Meanwhile, the likes of LeBron James and Steph Curry will spend time engaging or responding to fans who reach out to them via social media.

The NBA is at the forefront of allowing the use of its content online and encouraging their players to use social media while the other professional leagues have rules in place to prevent it.

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According to an article on Sporttechie.com:

"The game’s social media popularity came from fuzzy clips of TV screens uploaded by fans. But as the league began to recognize the growing numbers of fan-posted clips making an impact online, they started posting some of their own; however, instead of grainy recordings of televisions, the NBA posted legitimate network-quality game footage to their accounts."

According to the Globe and Mail, the NHL has league wide rules in regards to the use of social media by its players.

"The NHL now has an official policy on social media that instituted a blackout for players from two hours before game-time to the finish of their media interviews following the game. The blackout extends to team personnel as well, and they are banned from tweeting from 11 a.m. on game days through the post-game interviews."

And the NHL wonders why the popularity of their sport isn’t growing in the United States and internationally.

According to ESPN, the NFL has also imposed similar rules restricting the use of their content.

"According to two league memos obtained by ESPN, teams no longer can shoot video inside the stadium during the game and post it on social media, nor can they use Facebook Live, Periscope or any other app to stream anything live within the stadium."

The NBA is progressive in their business model and the younger generation of fans are responding to it.

According to the Washington Post:

"The NBA has catered to younger fans with an emphasis on social media. It promotes its players, the most famous of whom are the most popular athletes in the country. On Twitter, 25.3 million people follow the NBA’s official account, compared to 23.5 million for the NFL. By the NBA’s measures, which it declined to share, the league’s social media accounts also have the youngest average age for any U.S. sports league."

In todays age, simply watching a pre-game profile of a player on NFL Sunday Countdown or during Sportsnet’s NHL coverage isn’t enough. The fans want more and the NBA is giving it to them in abundance.

The Toronto Raptors held their training last week in Victoria, BC and their all-star guard Kyle Lowry summed up the experience perfectly.

Lowry said:

"We understand that we have a lot of places to touch and people to touch."

Meanwhile, the NHL and NFL have the opposite attitude which is more akin to don’t touch me.

Next: Raptors issues that must be addressed during preseason.

The message is loud and clear from fans. They want to be able to interact with the players or at least have a window into what they are doing 24-7.

The NBA continues to be at the forefront of understanding how to grow their game and it’s only a matter of time before it will surpass the NFL in global popularity.