NUFC aiming to get personal on Twitter
It’s safe to say that, so far, Newcastle United’s Twitter presence has been pretty poor. Since its inception, the account has been used to peddle club merchandise and post some ill-timed Tweets that have been greeted with anger by a lot of fans. Apparently this is all about to change.
The club teased an announcement this morning, and at around 9.30am it was noticed that the club’s handle had changed from @NUFCOfficial to the more succinct @NUFC. With this change came a story on the website where the club effectively admitted it hadn’t done enough to involve the fans online.
Newcastle United’s official Twitter account has been relaunched – to bring supporters a much-improved service.
Starting with a new, simpler name of @NUFC, the account will be used to make you feel as close to the Magpies as possible, both on and off the pitch.
We have unrivalled access to all areas of the Club, from the first team, through to the under-21s and Academy, and not forgetting the work of our official charity, the Newcastle United Foundation.
And it is only fair that we share that with you, in as much detail as possible.
Behind the scenes videos and images, exclusive Twitter competitions and a personality are just some of the features that our revamped account will provide.
It’s a smart move and one which is long overdue. While Managing Editor Anthony Marshall admits the account won’t stop promoting merchandise due to “commercial and retail obligations”, he’s promising that they’ll be personalised Tweets and not reliant on an automatic feed.
As a Newcastle fan this move is brilliant to see, and comes a few weeks after representatives from the club met with Twitter’s Head of Sport at the beginning of February. Clubs are beginning to switch on to the potential Twitter has, with teams such as Southampton classed as innovators due to the range of brilliant and exclusive content they put online. Media officers often have unprecedented access to the kind of behind-the-scenes areas fans can only dream of – it makes sense to try and share as much of this as possible.
Hopefully this won’t be the last time we feature them here for the right reasons.
