Pros Deliver Winning Panel on Social Media and Sports

" 1 or 2 percent of all programming is sports, yet it accounts for 50 percent of traffic on Twitter," said Scott Carlis, VP of Social Media at AEG. Carlis was one of four Los Angeles thought leaders on social media and sports who spoke at Social Media Club Los Angeles' July panel, 'SCORE: How Social Media is Winning Sports'. The panel, moderated by board member Justin Simon, was held at Cross Campus LA in Santa Monica. Sponsors included Castle Rock Water, Dogtown Coffee and CurbStand, which provided valet service for the event.Carlis was joined by Andrew Siciliano, NFL Network host; Kirk Morrison, a former NFL player and Director of Business Development at Centurion Strategies and Lauren Renschler, PR Director at Centurion Strategies.Each of the panelists discussed how social media has forever changed the sports landscape. Fans now have access to their favorite sports figures like never before. With that presents many benefits and challenges for sports figures, their business partners and publicists as Renschler pointed out."The more outrageous you are on Twitter , the more followers you have. As a publicist, that gives me a heart attack," Renschler said.There's a fine line on social media for athletes, as Siciliano pointed out."These guys aren't independent entrepreneurs. They work for larger companies and have to be mindful, he said.Morrison was one of the first NFL players to utilize Twitter when the social network was in its infancy.

"You never know who's watching you. As an athlete, the toughest thing I had to deal with was when Twitter first came out," he said. Morrison said the future of social media is exciting and scary at the same time.

"What's next?'