New Buzz in Social Media - Cricket World Cup 2011

The most awaited moment for all cricket lovers...ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is back again...!!!

With new hopes and new ambitions each and every cricketer will give its best efforts; running machines will pour the rainfall of massive runs whereas spinners and fasters would like to stop the hurricane of runs.

This world cup is a dream come true for many newcomers and youngsters but few players are the focal point like Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, OZ Captain Ricky Ponting, Spinning maestro – Muralitharan as for them this may be the last world cup.

This mega event of cricket has been into discussion from last 2 years in relation to its hosting and some fear factors like terror attacks. Apart from all threatening factors and abysmal cricket scams every cricket admirer is waiting for its commencement. From New Zealand to Kenya, from England to Zimbabwe, from Canada to South Africa, from India to Australia almost all are its participants and gung-ho about who is going to win this World Cup- Australia, India, South Africa?? Will Sachin be again the best batsman ? Will India represents this event without any scam unlike CWG 2010?

Whether it’s the news bulletin, magazine article, newspaper clipping, or facebook, twitter and other social media sites you can feel the breeze of cricket fever. From kid to youth and from youngsters to adults everyone is quite fascinated about this event.

I still remember that when I was a school going kid there was no facility to get updates on cricket scores other than TV and radio, and if by mistake I skipped them than there was no alternative to watch them back as per my convenience. But time and technology has changed now and I can watch bating smashes of Tendulkar and outstanding fielding of South Africa at any moment of time. All moments are easily available on You tube. Ball to ball score updates on rediff.com and crickinfo.com has made life easier for all cricket lovers. No need to wait for any news bulletin or radio news to have a glimpse of any inning. Social media has been a significant tool in providing live updates and past updates on cricket matches.

Before the initiation of WC 2011 social media users have already started discussing this event. Its opening ceremony on 17th Feb was also a grand success by having Bryan Adams, Sonu Nigam as performers and massive crowds as spectators. Like Olympics 2010 and CWG 2010 it also has a mascot- Stumpy representing a great enthusiasm and determination.

And the most interesting thing is that I have not gained this information from any news channel or magazine rather I collected all these information from Social media online source- Twitter and Facebook. Whomsoever is having a wee bit interest in sports and cricket is discussing this on online platforms.

Everyone is discussing how pitch will work out? How non asian cricket squads will face spinners? What is the usage of allowing small and poor teams like Kenya and Canada? Who is going to hit maximum sixes? Who will be highest wicket taker? Like these discussions on many points can be seen onto the social media platforms.

Few days back I read an article in which Indian people were criticising BCCI for not getting ready Lords Ground(one of the best cricket ground all over the world). With this I realized that how we are attached emotionally to this event. This event is giving a big opportunity to many small countries like Bangladesh, being one of its host is a very small country but by hosting this event it has attracted many investors towards it.

Along with cricketers the other major drivers of discussion are it sponsors and their performance to host this event, the terror attacks, its host and the hot cheer leaders. Comments going on rediff sports club like- What a shot what shot by master blaster! Its an another boundary for Kevin Peterson !! OH he got it. He got him out! can be easily seen.

Conversations about the World Cup are driven mainly by predictions about which teams are most likely to win, and which players are likely to be the ones to watch out for.

These days Twitter is followed by Facebook in creating and discussing the buzz of world cup cricket. With Twitter leading other social media sites for conversations pertaining to world cup, social media’s linkage to current events especially sporting events has been cemented and will play an increasingly important role in enhancing continued public attention on them. The habit of looking for a television set to check the score has become a rare story for consumers who are on the move towards digital world.

Not only social media is a platform to carry on discussion related to sports but it is also a tool to find out the major influencers, sponsors, drawbacks and advantages of the sports. Also the team can find out how they are being discussed in the public in comparison to their opponent teams.

With so many advantages over traditional media, social media is truly a wonderful revolution to watch out for the current and past discussions related to world cup cricket 2011.
This world cup is in true sense a social cup with nations from all over the world, spectators from every single corner of world with mixed bag of emotions, mind blowing commentators, mental and physical pressure and high classed umpires.

So for whom are you batting? Who is your favourite player? Mine is one and only Sachin Tendulkar. Have u started taking participation in Sachination on Facebook? Start tweeting about this event ? what are your expectations from this event?
I will come with a new point to discuss this world cup in relation to social media. Till then enjoy the event....!!!!


Heena Lodha

The author is a business researcher with CheckBuzz, a social media monitoring company.

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