NBA TV to Televise NBA Social Media Awards

NBA TV announced that the it will be televising the first ever NBA Social Media Awards. The event celebrates NBA players and teams fans for their social engagement throughout the 2011-12 NBA regular season.

The broadcast will be live June 20th at 9:00 p.m. EST. Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox will host the show, and he will be joined by TNT and NBA TV analyst Shaquille O’Neal and SLAM magazine’s Lang Whitaker. The three will also be working with The Basketball Jones’ JE Skeets and Tas Melas.

The NBA Social Media Awards will be divided into various categories recognizing social activity across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and more. Sample categories include:

- The BIG (Best In the Game) Award – for the player that best utilizes social media across platforms.

- The LOL (Laugh out Loud) Award – for the team/players who had the most shared/liked blooper video during the regular season.

- The Social Slam Award – for the favorite dunk during regular season voted on by the fans.

- The FanNation Award – for the team with the highest percentage increase across all platforms.

The NBA has been very active with the Twitter and Facebook, and is one of the first sports leagues to embrace social media. There are hundreds of players who use these sites and it helps keep fans of the NBA engaged with their favorite players.