The Wimbledon tennis tournament for this year will be using the SoftLayer cloud technology by IBM to be able to host a new tool for social media.
Wimbledon, or known as the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, will be launching the Wimbledon Social Command Centre, which will allow it to monitor trending topics in social media regarding the tournament.
Using the data generated, WImbledon.com can then be adjusted to display the most relevant information according to what is most talked about online.
"The Wimbledon Social Command Centre will help us follow the evolving topics on sites like Twitter to see what is being discussed, how the volume is changing, and we can tune and tailor that to the Wimbledon.com website," said Alex Willis, AELTC content and communications manager.
"So if the social media coverage is actually talking about a match on court 12, rather than centre court, it means we can understand that and give people the content they want."
The new social media tool that the Wimbledon will implement confirms that the tournament isn't averse to using technology to make the game more exciting and accurate. The Wimbledon tennis tournament is also one of the first tournaments in the sport to use the Hawk-Eye ball tracking system in 2007, which drastically reduces the officiating errors in a match by pinpointing the exact spot where the ball hits the ground.
In addition to the Wimbledon Social Command Centre, the Slamtracker platform was also updated. Tasked with providing real-time data to users, the platform has been simplified. Slamtracker's predictive analytics system also gives users insights into a match through the identification of three vital performance indicators for each player.
Wimbledon's official apps for the iPhone and Android phones have also been upgraded, with new functionality included in the iPad app.
All these technological improvements aim to provide fans with the best Wimbledon experience possible, even if they are on the other side of the world.
"We continue to look for new ways to innovate and strengthen our leadership position in the sports industry, and one of the ways we will do this is by delivering content and information about The Championships to fans in the way that they want to consume it, no matter where they are," said AELTC commercial director Mick Desmond.
"Working with IBM is a winning partnership because it allows us to create a unique digital environment that delivers stats, video and information to our fans whenever they want it on all devices and is the next best thing to being there."
The two-week Wimbledon tennis tournament begins on June 23.
