 |
| Source: Official Wayne Rooney |
Just as Wayne Rooney prepares to re-enter the England-fold against Ukraine this evening, he has launched an official website to aggregate his social media feeds.
The site, imaginatively named Official Wayne Rooney,
combines the star’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube feeds so users can trace the
posts on each forum in a chronological order.
For instance, yesterday the England and Manchester United star used the website to comment on his widely expected return to the England starting line-up as his national side prepare to line-up against Ukraine in the side's final group game of the UEFA championship, see below.
The site also contains a timeline featuring highlights of
the player’s career such as his first team debuts, even those dating back to
his youth whenever he was a mascot
for his boyhood club Everton aged ten.
The site was created by digital agency Lightmaker, which was
also behind a number of Manchester United sites, and in a Q&A attributed to Rooney,
the striker said it was meant to bring him closer to fans, see below.
"I want it to be the place where my fans and partners can see what’s really happening in my world. There will be some big things happening on the site to mark the 10th anniversary of my Premier League debut on 17 August and lots more to come after that…"– Wayne Rooney
In the interview, Rooney goes on to say the website, which
has been optimised to be used on desktop and mobile devices, will be a place
where fans can see what’s really going on in his world.
However, in a world where footballers have become brands in themselves, the more cynical elements within the Total Digital Football’s team can’t help but wonder if this is another exercise in PR control.
However, in a world where footballers have become brands in themselves, the more cynical elements within the Total Digital Football’s team can’t help but wonder if this is another exercise in PR control.
 |
| Source: Wayne Rooney's Twitter feed |
After all having a central hub for all Rooney’s
user-generated content gives the player’s PR team a perfect opportunity to vet
said content before it becomes publicly available. Although, we can never be certain.
Let’s face it in the days when the press have limited access
to top-flight footballers a single tweet from a high profile player, such as
Rooney, Rio Ferdinand or the ever-provocative Joey Barton, can be enough to
generate acres of media coverage.
Total Digital Football has documented this phenomena before with Joey Barton's end-of-season Twitter rant still ranking as one of the most popular posts ever to have been published on this blog.
Given the fact that Rooney is prone to the occasional
outburst of temper, this seems like a sensible move from the player’s own brand
management team, remember the below verbal attack on a certain section of England supporters post England's 2010 FIFA World Cup 2010 game against Algeria?
Wayne Rooney's verbal attack on fans
Source: YouTube
No comments:
Post a Comment