The UFC’s long espousal of social media as a method to reach and curry favor with their fan base is well documented. Personally, I find their use of Facebook to show live under card fights to be the smartest use of social media to date. Now news is out the UFC will be encouraging fighters to Tweet actively and accumulate as many followers as possible. Mashable explains the policy:
UFC Paying Fighters To Tweet, Literally
UFC and Strikeforce (another MMA promotion company) have a unique plan on how to do that. Starting June 1, they will divide their fighters into four categories based on their Twitter follower count. Then, after every three months, three fighters from each category will get a $5,000 bonus based on how many followers they’ve gained, the biggest percentage of new followers gained and the most creative tweets, judged by UFC head Dana White.
Bloody Elbow’s Mike Fagan underscores how good this is for fighters and how it stands in stark contrast to the policies of other professional sports leagues:
While Chad Ochocinco is going to pay the NFL $25,000 to tweet during a preseason game, Jon Jones will be rewarded for Twitter-whoring.
Let's get this out of the way: this is a great policy. The four big sports leagues have reacted to Twitter like the out-of-touch, white-haired men that they are. The UFC has done a great job leveraging social media, even if it occasionally backfires. Putting more money in the pockets of fighters while expanding the reach of the sport? Great.
I’m curious to understand the focus on Twitter over other social media outlets. Twitter is less about actually referring traffic to another source than it is personal brand management or peer-to-peer interaction. Perhaps that latter value proposition is what’s driving this initiative. The UFC has always made access to fan demand a key priority. Increased Twitter use among fighters is probably another method to achieve that end. It’s also good for creating social media savvy as well as putting a few extra coins in the fighters’ pockets.
Still, one has to reason that in most cases, the juice won't be worth the squeeze. The Urijah Faber's and Jon Jones' of the UFC might be more natural fits, but others will find themselves Tweeting the mundane or offensive. This policy might turn a few of the social media-reluctant into thriving users, but it may also just favor those naturally predisposed to using the tools.
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