These last few weeks for me have been pretty awesome. It was topped off yesterday afternoon (Saturday 7th August) when I found myself in the “Media Suite” of the Madejski Statdum, the home of Reading Football Club, watching the opening game of the season with lots of journalists and radio commentators. I even found myself in the press conference afterwards where the two managers were questioned by the likes of talkSPORT radio and BBC Radio Berkshire.
How did it come about
Well as you may know I set up FootyTweets few years ago, a football news/updates service on Twitter. It started out because I wanted to get Reading FC news and score alerts on Twitter. So I started out doing it manually. After a few days I decided to set up a script to do it for me, but what about all the other teams? Well thats where FootyTweets came from.
I’ve had a fair bit of contraversy with FootyTweets and its or reltations: MotorTweets, CricketTweets and RugbyTweets. All of these came about due to the way “old media” see anyone using their copyright without their permission. Different companies/organisations treat their copyright and trademark in one of two ways:
- Old media: Send the person in breech of copyright a Cease & Desist letter (like I received)
- New media: Embrace the person that is giving them extra publicity and promoting the copyright holder
Anyway, as you can see from the Cease & Desist letter I received, all the clubs and governing bodies have a very obvious old media stance.
What happened with Reading FC then?
Well, Reading FC were the first team to make contact with me and ask to speak on the phone. I immediately knew the issue was Twitter related and was most likely just ringing to ask for the Twitter account I was using for Reading (@ReadingFC). Which I would be fine about since I’d rather not go to court because I wouldn’t change an account name. Twitter themselves have their rules about using other peoples trademarks and I wouldn’t stand a chance!
But… I was really surprised to speak to the Craig, the Head of Communications and Reading FC and he did just want the Twitter account name, which we had swapped over within 10 minutes of the phone call ending (my account changed to @Unofficial_RFC). But what I didn’t expect was him to thank me for running the account for so long. Not only that but he offered me the chance to go into the press area for any matches I like!
Let’s backtrack a second
A football club thanked me for using their trademark because it was benefiting the club. Craig specifically mentioned the term “new media” too. I wish more clubs like DC United and New York Red Bulls (Both in the MLS) would have done the same rather than sending me harsh e-mails or going to Twitter directly to take over an account.
Conclusion
You might well support someone else, but you have to admire what Reading FC have done. If it is possible, then I am a bigger fan that I was this time last week.
It’s nice to find great posts like this one. Thank you!