Will Twitter Save Professional Women's Sports?

Women's Professional Soccer Commissioner Tonya Antonucci spoke candidly at last week's annual meeting for the Association of Women in Sports Media about the importance of engaging fans for the start-up league, and not just soccer moms. She thinks that social media is a huge opportunity for players and teams to make impactful connections to fans.

As a former staffer at Yahoo.com Sports, Antonucci (WPSCommissioner) understands the power of the internet to connect with fans, so much so that she is encouraging players to use Twitter during live action. She will also share comments during the season.

Twitter, the microblog that allows users to share 140 characters of information, random thoughts and musings, has experienced explosive growth thanks in part to use by celebrity athletes, including: NBA star Shaquille O'Neal (The_Real_Shaq) and cyclist Lance Armstrong (LanceArmstrong).

Last month at the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Players Summit, Commissioner Carolyn Bivens challenged players to "tweet" during play. Morgan Pressel (MorganPressel) is arguably the most chatty tweeter on tour followed by Christina Kim (TheChristinaKim). The USGA is looking into it as a rules matter and will make a ruling this season.

"I'd love it if players twittered during the middle of a round," Bivens told Bloomberg. "The new media is very important to the growth of golf and we view it as a positive, and a tool to be used."

Meanwhile, Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva (CV31) was chastised by coach Scott Skiles for using Twitter at half time of a game this season. Twitter's growth and popularity among its players may cause the NBA to take a hard look at the way players use social media during live play.

However, I believe that NBA players have taken the lead in the Twitter race among pro athletes led by Shaq, who was forced to use Twitter because an impostor was using his name and likeness to post "tweets." Former Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabar (kaj33) is active as is Lakers exec Jeanie Buss (JeanieBuss). Abdul-Jabar offers insight into the strategy while Buss offers a fun experience for fans, i.e. who is sitting courtside with Jack Nicholson.

Will Twitter save professional women's sports? Of course not, but if sports teams and athletes want to grow new and younger audiences, it is vital that they engage in social media efforts.

Twitter user names featured in this article are in parentheses.