Super Bowl social media has been 'epic'

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - On the third story of a downtown building, dozens of workers and volunteers are helping answer questions about the Super Bowl in a high-tech way.

The Social Media Command Center monitors tweets and Facebook posts about the Super Bowl, hoping to point people in the right direction. The effort has at some points broken Twitter, forcing the organizers to talk to Twitter to try to avoid breaking it again.

“We are on the forefront; no one else has done this,” said Ryan Smith, vice president of production for Raidious.

Indianapolis is the first Super Bowl to create a specific emphasis on social media, creating a group of local Twitter experts to tweet about various Super Bowl experiences. In addition, the command center helps answer questions about parking, events and everything in between.

“It’s a pretty epic undertaking,” Smith said, adding that future Super Bowl cities will likely use the idea.

But Smith said Raidious wasn’t trying to set a new standard.

“We just wanted to provide Hoosier hospitality,” he said.

Volunteers and Raidious workers have found they’re busiest with Twitter questions in the morning and when people are just about to leave their homes or hotels. They want to know what they’re doing before they get out the door.

Once people arrive to downtown, he said they’re having so much fun that they aren’t tweeting to them as much.

Three dozen people per day man the command center, monitoring social media and crafting responses. Volunteers from various Indiana colleges are part of the effort, writing tweet responses that are sent to an editor for approval.

“That way they don’t have to be trained on what they can and can’t say,” Smith explained.

Ball State University senior Alberto Pimienta became a volunteer after one of his professors offered the opportunity. As someone studying telecommunications and journalism, he said he knows it’s important to be able to master all skills, including social media.

“It’s been really cool,” Pimienta said. “There’s so much energy.”

Pimienta said he’s part of an “amazing endeavor.” The most common questions he’s seen have been about where to park and whether concerts in Super Bowl Village are free.

The small command center tracks tweets on a large video board. One screen shows where the tweets are coming from around Indianapolis, and others monitor the most popular topics.

In addition to that effort, a group of people were selected to represent Social46. The group tweets what it sees going on at various Super Bowl events. Social46 tweeter Bill Yanney ( @IndyBill23 ) is an academic adviser at ITT Technical Institute’s online branch. He’s been downtown every day except Monday, tweeting about what he sees.

As of Friday afternoon, Yanney said the coolest thing he’s encountered was Madonna at radio row in the JW Marriott.

“We were just kind of walking around the room stops,” Yanney said. Then, Madonna walked in.

Yanney said he’s heard nothing but positive things from people about how Indianapolis is handling the Super Bowl.

“Hopefully we get it back,” he said.