Coming to you live this morning from Target Center, where we are attending our very first Social Media Breakfast. The subject of today's panel:

Social Media in Sports

. Sounds interesting. Sounds pertinent. The panelists:

  • Candice Wiggins of the Minnesota Lynx (@CandiceWiggins)
  • Gregg Litman from WCCO (@GRLitman)
  • Matt Teske from the St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints)
  • Scott Spiridigliozzi from the Minnesota Timberwolves (@Liozzi)
  • Austin Stair Calhoun from the UM Tucker Center (@austinstair)

So we'll try to update a few times between now and 9:30, when this shindig ends and the USA soccer watching begins. By the way, that image was shot by us from our seat inside Target Center. For whatever reason, it kind of spooks us. Feel free to throw any questions in the comments.

8:10 a.m.: Intros, sponsor thanks, etc. More to come.

8:30 a.m.: Candice Wiggins of the Lynx on why she uses Twitter: "It's a really fun way for me to express my personality. ... We have this huge platform to implement any kind of change -- whether it's socially or just making a fan smile. ... It's like the bar at 'Cheers.' Someplace where everybody knows your name."

Gregg Litman of 'CCO makes some good points about how using Twitter helps you take the pulse of sports fans almost instantly and also can lead you to good information. ... Have to say we use it the same way, particularly during major local games.

Matt Teske of the Saints says that organization tries to make a conscious effort to deliver different messages than other sports teams in town, catered specifically to Saints fans (i.e. tailgating information, etc.). Also, they are using Twitter to add value to their sponsorship deals.

8:40: Wiggins on how she uses Twitter to enhance her personal brand: "It has to be something organic. It can't be forced. I don't just tweet to tweet. I tweet when I have something to say. Fame is kind of redundant unless you stand for something. My personal branding ... stems from having something to say that can help people.

Matt Teske of the Saints said last year someone in the right field stands was hit by a foul ball. A person next to the fan, instead of getting up and going to guest services to tell the Saints the fan needed help, sent a tweet to the Saints. (It might have been quicker just to get up, he said, but the Saints got the message).

8:45: Scott Spiridigliozzi on Jonny Flynn: "He will tweet all day long about every single thing he is doing." (No joke! Surprised it's been 24 minutes since his last tweet!)

CCO's Litman: "Treat every mic like it's live." Indeed. Think before you tweet, and know who you are representing.

8:55: Wiggins (who continues to be impressive): She notes that Twitter helps her be more visible and accessible to fans. "There are people who I would never talk to who I talk to on Twitter. The good is you get to hear and be inspired. Sometimes seeing the replies I get just makes me smile." ... The negative is fans that take it too far and suddenly think they are friends. She said a few of her teammates have had some bad, almost scary interactions with people on Twitter.

9:05: Litman, still trying to backpedal from the WCCO Mark Rosen/Joe Mauer contract tweet fiasco from earlier this year: "Part of the frustration of the day that Mark Rosen supposedly said the Mauer contract was a done deal is he didn't say it was a done deal. ... People play this game of telephone in 140 characters ... we had to deal with that reality."

Sorry, Gregg, but while you might want to remember it that way, that's not quite how it went down. Let's go back to the smoking gun tweet: "looks like joe mauer is staying with the #twins. Sources tell me 10-year deal -- watch @WCCO at 5 and 6 for more!

Sure sounds like something a casual fan might run with and think of as at least very close to a done deal. Brauer broke this all down a while ago, as did we. Great care must be taken with how breaking news tweets are phrased. Something was botched along the way, but the Twitter chain wasn't the only thing culpable in the WCCO/Mauer case. Lesson learned, it sounds like (according to Litman). But own up to it.

9:20: Winding down here. Overall: very impressed by the panel, especially Wiggins and (despite our disagreements on the Rosen thing) Litman. Everyone contributed. Definitely learned some things today. Scott from the Wolves kicks in a little humor at the very end. Talking about handling disasters, he makes a joke about the Wolves' record. Well-played, sir. Now let's go get the USA a couple of goals.