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Man City, NYCFC find that biblical puns and inanimate objects are keys to Twitter Q&A success

Jesus and lamp.

NYCFC and parent club Man City both held Twitter Q&As with one of their players on Tuesday and both sessions ended up entertaining more than just their fans. Frank Lampard and Jesus Navas both sat down to answer questions from fans of their respective clubs on the social network and because the hashtags #AskLamps and #AskJesus were used, those questions were not just limited to football.

Once each Q&A began, the hashtags captured the imaginations of Twitter users and the questions about household lighting and biblical figures began.

With the double meanings at play, both events became trending topics on Twitter. They were also the subject of write-ups from numerous media outlets — many of which came to the conclusion that the hashtags somehow went wrong. Even though they attracted thousands of people who would have had no idea that these events were taking place and brought coverage and promotion from sites that don't usually cover and promote these teams, like Mashable and Buzzfeed.

If anything, the double meanings made both Q&A sessions more successful than they usually are. We've become so conditioned to believe that anything that doesn't go according to a presumed or stated plan is an "EPIC FAIL" that it's often forgotten that deviation from the norm can be the best case scenario for all parties involved. And that's what happened here. Legitimate questions from fans were answered, joke questions were shared far and wide, and the combination of the two brought the events more attention and interest than either team could have hoped for.

The guy who devised the #AskLamps hashtag happens to be DT co-founder (and the creator of Landon Donovan's Adventures of Epic Broportions) Carter Daly, who is NYCFC's social media manager. And he couldn't be happier with how this turned out. After all, Lampard went into the Q&A with a sense of humor and even answered a few joke questions. Like this one:

So, jokes were made, questions were answered and now it's only a matter of time before more clubs try to duplicate this effect. If Independiente ever do this with goalkeeper Fabian Assman, it will probably break Twitter, though.

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Brooks Peck

is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter!