Super Bowl to get social media center

• Tweet

INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Super Bowl XLVI host city Indianapolis says it's preparing for the event with a first-ever social media command center.

From a site in downtown, strategists, analysts and tech types will monitor the digital activities surrounding Super Bowl week using Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, Mashable reported Tuesday.

"Social media is just how people interact now," said Taulbee Jackson of Raidious, the digital marketing agency the Super Bowl's host committee chose to manage the communications hub. "We felt it was critical to have some horsepower behind that aspect of the Super Bowl here, versus what you might have seen from other Super Bowls."

The center will tweet directions to fans in search of parking, direct visitors to Indianapolis attractions, and be ready to provide information in case of an emergency.

About 150,000 people are expected to invade downtown Indianapolis for Super Bowl weekend.

The center, utilizing more than a mile of Ethernet cable, will be staffed by about 20 people for 15 hours a day.

"We're kind of breaking new ground here so we don't know the exact numbers yet of what we'll be dealing with, but we should be able to provide that after the game to other cities that have to deal with these types of issues," Jackson said.