TweetStarGame a Modern Database for Modern Sports

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Quick Pitch: A one-stop, constantly updating database of social media's most influential athletes in different sports and leagues.

Genius Idea: As social continues to permeate sports, brands, fans and players will want to quickly know who wields the most power online.

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Sports and social media are becoming more and more intertwined. Twitter has become central for fan conversation. Brands routinely use Facebook for sports-themed promotions. Teams are even beginning to pick up on Pinterest. And players are all over social networks.

But there are few one-stop shops to quantify and analyze which athletes are working the social web best. TweetStarGame aims to fill that void.

The site ranks players in different sports, leagues and divisions according to Klout score, and creates "starting lineups" based on whose numbers are highest. The site's 25-year-old founder Caleb Mezzy hopes it eventually becomes a go-to source for information on the intersection of sports and social.

"Ultimately, we want to become similar to what ESPN is for player stats," he says.

For now, TweetStarGame is very much in startup mode. Mezzy runs it with the help of two friends on top of his day job in social media, but the site has gained some attention recently in the world of sports blogging since launching in earnest just before the new year. Before the Super Bowl, Klout itself actually sourced the TweetStarGame's organized data for an infographic on which teams and players were best on Twitter.

Mezzy also says TweetStarGame can provide value for companies looking for potential endorsers because "a brand can go in and see which players are most influential in their territory — for example just the National League Central — instead of having to search through each individual Klout score."

Building the site's profile and influence are the main focus for now, Mezzy says, then revenue streams will become more of a priority. The site recently launched a store featuring t-shirts of players' Twitter handles — a funny and appropriate take on the popular "shirsey" apparel genre that crosses t-shirts with jerseys.

While it still has a ways to go before becoming a viable business, TweetStarGame is an interesting idea extremely appropriate for the modern sports zeitgeist. If players themselves buy in to its rankings and actually compete for high rankings, however, the site could become huge.

Do you think TweetStarGame can become a success? Let us know in the comments.

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Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, LUGO