Beyond the Box for the WNBA coming soon

Joe Favorito of the Sports Marketing & PR Roundup blog recently wrote about the evolution of "second screen" experiences for sports fans, which are more simply described as platforms "...like twitter to engage fans and monitor the buzz in and around an event."

And while many of us are already on Twitter, there's a relatively new app out there for sports fans that one of the guys at SB Nation's Golden State of Mind has been building called "Beyond the Box", which currently offers what could be described as a "third screen" experience for SB Nation sports fans as they watch the television, a game thread on the computer, and reactions from around the web on an iPad.

And soon, they'll be expanding BtB to include content for WNBA fans.

Beyond the Box works by curating NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL news, analysis, rumors, videos, photos, and player thoughts from 1,000 media sources and 2,000 players into a real-time, personalized sports timeline. So as an example, if you're a Golden State Warriors fan (and really, why shouldn't you be?) you could use beyond the box as a third screen during games to monitor media reactions on a screen that looks like this on your iPad.

Golden State Warriors timeline on Beyond the Box.

Obviously, that brings up a few questions.

1. How is that any different than using Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or whatever other Twitter app you might use? In using BtB recently, the biggest difference I've found is when I want to keep track of information or a game not related to my favorite team. For example, on NBA Draft day (today) when ridiculous rumors and prognostications are flying about, BtB is actually really interesting to keep track of local reaction and sources about the moves for a given team or the national analysts.
   

   
   Real-time updates from the best sources about 2013 NBA Draft.

2. How are the accounts curated? The voices found in BtB are curated based on a formula that based on a given accounts influence and authority in the field.
   
3. Is it only available for iPad? For now, yes - but it will be available for iPhone not long after it's available for the WNBA.

You can read more about BtB at the following links:

• Beyond The Box Launches A TweetDeck For Sports To Bring Realtime News And Analysis To Your iPad [TechCrunch]
• Sports News App Aggregates Tweets Related to Your Favorite Teams [Mashable]
• Get Instant Tweets About Your Favorite Sports Teams Right on Your iPad [ABC Morning News in Buffalo, NY]
• Twitter-Powered Sports App "Beyond The Box" Curates Real-Time Content From Your Favorite Teams And Players [Media Bistro]
• Beyond the Box Delivers Quality Sports News to the Second-Screen [SportTechie]

If you want to try it out, you can download it on iTunes and try it out during tonight's NBA Draft as you're watching the WNBA game with us here at Swish Appeal.

But to hear about the launch of the WNBA app, fill out the survey below.