Since its creation, Twitter has empowered sports fans to be sports columnists, giving everyone a public platform for their opinions. On Friday night, during MLS’ Heineken Rivalry Week, Twitter is turning users into game photographers, too. A camera located in the corner of the StubHub Center pitch for the LAFC at LA Galaxy match will be fan-operated, via Twitter.
Every time someone tweets with the hashtag #LALookIn, the on-site DSLR camera will snap a photo that will then be sent to the user in a reply. Nearby corner kicks will offer compelling close-ups. If a player scores, maybe he will return to mug the camera as part of his goal celebration.
“That would definitely be the dream,” said Melissa Marchionna, MLS’ director of social media, before her colleague, MLS VP of content Greg Lalas, added: “Take advantage of that as a player. Work your brand in there as much as possible.”
Twitter sports partnerships manager Will Exline explained that every tweet with the #LALookIn hashtag will snap the shutter. Tweets that arrive 10 seconds apart should return photos taken 10 seconds apart. The upper limit to its tweet-triggered capacity is just the speed of the camera. If a critical mass tweet simultaneously, Exline said, “As quick as the camera can take photos is the amount of photos that will be [tweeted].”
Twitter and MLS agreed to a three-year partnership back in March that includes at least 25 live-streamed matches per season, including Thursday night’s rivalry week match between Houston and FC Dallas. MLS has the highest percentage of millennial fans among the U.S. sports leagues.
“What we’re most excited about is the notion of a new way to engage with our fans—in the moment, especially,” Lalas said. “Obviously, our matches are super-important and the lifeblood of what we do as a league, and if we can offer a new perspective or a new way for our fans to be a part of it, especially fans who aren’t there in the stadium, I think that’s what’s most exciting. Our stadium experience is such a vital part of what we do.”
The first Twitter-controlled camera debuted at the Teen Choice Awards on Aug. 12 with Twitter users able to snap shots from the red carpet. Sparo Social was the vendor behind that activation.
You tweeted, we delivered — peep your personal pic of #TeenChoice!
pic.twitter.com/SosbzdItGB
— Teen Choice Awards (@TeenChoiceFOX) August 12, 2018
Lalas said MLS has been upfront with Twitter that the league wants to be among the “vanguard” on the use of technology and social media. When Twitter broached the idea of fans remotely controlling the shutter of a camera, Lalas called the concept a “no brainer.”
“This idea is about community and everyone belongs and bringing that stadium experience to life—it was like a Venn diagram of the things that we really think are important and care about,” Lalas said.
For now, the camera is only scheduled for this one intra-Los Angeles match—El Tráfico, as it’s come to be known, mimicking the term El Clásico for the rivalry between Spanish heavyweights FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Exline said his group is always looking to innovate and is open to trying the camera again in the future.
“MLS has been a great partner to work with,” Exline said, “and they’re always willing to talk and try to experiment and do things like this.”