There is good news for fans who will be in front of their television during tonight’s NBA Finals game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.
According to Mashable’s Sam Laird, Twitter and the NBA have started a new partnership that hopes to provide an interactive fan experience for the duration of the NBA Finals. The deal is the first ever time that Twitter has officially teamed up with a major sports league.
For tonight’s game, Twitter will create a custom timeline that most iOS and Android users can reach via hashtag. Using #NBA or #NBAFinals, a Twitter user can reach the custom timeline screen, which has three different tabs—“Tweets,” “Commentary” and “Videos.” The “Tweets” category is what users typically can expect when they click on a hashtag. It will have every tweet with #NBA and #NBAFinals in it. The “Commentary” is a specific section of tweets that are only from selected NBA experts or media. “Videos” will show certain highlights and Vines that correlate to the game. In that category, look out for Stephen Curry, who has amassed a number of viral highlights from his MVP-winning season.
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Twitter had unofficially experimented with custom timelines, such as in the 2014 NFL season, but it was all without a formal partnership with the NFL. Also, Twitter will look to add upon previous versions of the custom timeline, such as including a live score on the timeline.
The feature will begin at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, continuing through the first game, which starts at 9 p.m. ET.
In addition to the custom timeline, Twitter will also be using hashflags, which they have previously used. Typing #NBA will bring up the NBA logo, #NBAFinals will show an icon of the Larry O’Brien Trophy, #CLE or #AllinCLE will place a Cavalier’s “C” next to the hashtag and finally #GSW or #DubNation will give you a Golden State logo.