Why Is WWE Obsessed with Twitter and Social Networking?

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. These are three services most people who have any sense of what is going on around them are aware of.

WWE is certainly aware of these services, as they have been shoving their involvement with them down our throat for months—especially Twitter.

It was bad enough that Michael Cole constantly talked about Twitter during every match, but now we have graphics for Twitter popping up at the bottom of our TV screens every 10 minutes telling us what is trending...

Twitter graphics appear during shows constantly.

The ability to network with your customers is very important to businesses in today's hyper-competitive world of International business.

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have certainly had a positive impact for many superstars, which in turn has a positive impact on WWE.

Zack Ryder is the best example of someone who has used social networking to its greatest advantages. Without these websites we may not even be seeing Ryder, because he could have been released at this point had it not been for the fans supporting him.

He used YouTube to showcase his sense of humor and love for the business, and he used Twitter to connect with his fans on a personal level.

Others like John Cena, CM Punk and Randy Orton have also gained support through their Twitter accounts. John Cena is certainly the most popular on the site with over 1.1 million followers.

Ever since WWE started using graphics during TV and PPV events fans have been questioning why WWE feels the need to overuse the mini blogging service.

We all know that WWE has a huge online presence, and mentioning these things once in a while is totally understandable. They used to do a great job of relating this stuff once or twice each show, and I had no issue with that frequency at all.

I was going to try to count how many times Twitter was mentioned during the live SmackDown on Tuesday, but I honestly lost count after 12, because I knew that it no longer mattered how many times it was mentioned.

WWE also has a huge Facebook presence.

Twitter has over 300 million users as of May and sends out roughly 140 million tweets per day according to this report.

Another article published back in February notes that Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Series found that while Twitter has nearly the same number of users as the US has citizens, only seven percent of the American population use the site, with the rest of the usage being made up of other countries.

Since these reports are both several months old, we can only assume these numbers have grown some since then.

These numbers are certainly good for Twitter as a company, but do they indicate WWE is overusing the service?

I think they do. WWE is most popular in the US, and they generally cater to those fans the most, in terms of what content they feature.

With only seven percent of the population of their biggest market using the service, why would they feel the need to overemphasize their involvement? A few mentions each show would be enough to satisfy those who are actually curious about these things.

Basically, I think it comes down to this: Vince McMahon realizes the power of these social networks because of the impact they have had with certain superstars, but he does not understand that we are already aware of these things and do not need a reminder every six seconds.

I understand what WWE is doing from a business standpoint, and if I were an executive, I would have no complaints, but as a fan, I have to protest.

I tune in to watch wrestling and be entertained, I do not tune in to hear what is trending world wide—I have a smart phone for that.

What is your opinion? Why is WWE so obsessed with Twitter and other social services?

Feel free to check out the video above advertising WWE's new YouTube Channel.