Getting the back story on Iron Bowl hero Chris Davis

ESPN used Twitter to gather information quickly on Auburn’s Chris Davis, who had just made one of the biggest plays in college football.

Use Twitter to source news
Davis, the previously little-known cornerback from Auburn, miraculously returned a missed field goal for a touchdown to upset Alabama in the Iron Bowl on November 30. To report the story, @espn looked up Davis’ Twitter account (@chris11au) and found a newsworthy Tweet.

ESPN @SportsCenter unearthed this Tweet that Davis had sent a year before, about his aspiration to be the first-team kick and punt returner:

The network put the Tweet on air that night during @SportCenter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCve7OZKUKE&feature=youtu.be

Not surprisingly, Davis’ Twitter account has exploded since his historic touchdown. That weekend, his follower count increased by 482%, according to Twitter internal data.

Meanwhile, this Tweet, which Davis sent Monday after the game from class, has been retweeted more than 17,800 times.

Remember, with Twitter, you can go back in time to get context or new details — because Tweets tell stories. ESPN discovered an interesting anecdote about the player in the middle of a monumental sports story by researching on Twitter.

Do you know of other innovative uses of Twitter? Write to [email protected].