Super Bowl XLIV Earns an Official Twitter Hashtag: #SB44

Like it or not, Twitter is now about as mainstream as it gets.

Want proof? Super Bowl XLIV just earned itself an official Twitter hashtag: #SB44.

The NFL wants fans to “Tag the Super Bowl #SB44″ so they can collect and categorize a montage of tweets and photos from fans around the world. The NFL is highlighting the user-tagged Super Bowl content on its new Web site, which offers an interactive view of tweets and images that football fans are sharing on Twitter.

Twitter, for those of you living in a cave in southeast Asia, is a social micro-blogging website that allows users to post messages up to 140 characters long (commonly referred to as "tweets"). People "follow" friends, celebrities, companies, and any half-wit with an Internet connection for updates.

To use a popular new cliche, Twitter is the word of mouth on steroids.  It is a simple way for people to express opinions quickly to a broad audience. It allows people to stay connected and well-informed.

Two years ago, if someone would have asked football fans what their Twitter name was, most people would have responded, "What the hell is a Twitter?" Now people have Twitter accounts for their angry cats.

With the ever-growing popularity of social networking sites and devices, it's good business to embrace the trend, which is undoubtedly part of the reason for the NFL's recent change of heart concerning social media. 

So far the NFL has been notorious for bullying when it comes to the rights to its content.  The league has cracked down on players' usage of social media sites and even banned players from tweeting during games. 

Their new Super Bowl social media strategy suggests the NFL is starting to understand that social media is steadily becoming an essential part of sports.

As Twitter evolves, more people use it to share their experiences with the world. The social networking site provides a way to discover topics and connect with people, and it is becoming an integral part of sporting events.

As a result, sports stories break on Twitter and Facebook faster than CNN or FOX because it allows journalists, freelance writers, and bloggers the opportunity to get their content out to an audience quicker. Writers are even using player and coach tweets as quotable references in their stories.

People sharing the oddities that they observe at sporting events is becoming hot news, which brings us to The Ochocinco News Network, brought to fans around the world through social media.

Unfortunately, though, not all social media usage is a good thing.

Several colleges have disciplined athletes for posting questionable content on their social networking pages.  The University of Texas kicked a player off its football team because of remarks made on Facebook about then-President elect Barack Obama. 

The NCAA has not taken a formal stand on how much a school can monitor or restrict accounts, but from a legal point of view, experts believe that schools have every right to restrict athletes from their usage of social networking sites. That is why college and NFL teams are both starting to monitor recruits and players social media usage. 

Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach banned the use of Twitter on his football team while he was a head coach. In hind sight, though, he probably wishes he would have focused on the restriction of YouTube instead.

Slowly but surely, sports teams and conferences are starting to come around and realize their is more to gain by embracing the trend than trying to block the movement.

The NFL's embracing of social media is a good thing. Their “Tag the Super Bowl #SB44″ campaign is a step in the right direction.

Sooner or later, everyone realizes...resistance to Twitter is futile.