ENGLISH GIRLS GET TO GRIPS WITH TWITTER!

Gunners trio!

These days, everyone is all a-Twitter about Twitter.

In just the past few months, Twitter has become the hot new media platform to link professional athletes directly to their fans. By receiving messages from athletes on their computers and directly as text messages to their phones, over 800,000 fans are following NBA players like Shaquille O'Neal or legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Followers of professional players' "tweets" are allured by the behind-the-scenes access to an athlete's every move.

The WPS has been ahead of the trend, integrating the communication tool into the league site and its grassroots approach as much as possible. Over 20 WPS players are officially tweeting, giving fans a new take on their daily lives, including one trio of English internationals.

Alex Scott, Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers) and Karen Carney (Chicago Red Stars) are regularly tweeting, giving Twitter followers bouts of friendly banter each day about their training, the league and most recently the Chicago Red Stars thrashing of the Boston Breakers.

Smith tweeted, "finally back to Boston after a dreadful performance v. Chicago." Scott posted, "still hurting from getting beat 4-0, a game to forget, good goal Karen, will see you for a rematch soon, hehe." Fans also got an update from Karen about Chicago's bye week, "On my way to training no game this week = running."

However, these three players are not about to stream live status updates during a match — they say that, for them, it can be a distraction. But they do see the value of forming a unique connection with the league's fans.

"I think I heard about Twitter on TV and was curious as to what it was," said Boston defender Scott. "Since I signed up it has now become an everyday habit for me to go on there and update what I am doing, to talk or have some banter with Karen Carney." Scott, Smith and Carney have a combined total of 412 followers on Twitter.

Twitter updates, Scott says, give fans fresh insight into what players are doing on and off the field and an opportunity to learn more about the players; Carney agrees saying the more exposure the players and their teams get, the better for the league.



Extracts from Abigail LePeilbet, Special to FoxSoccer.com