The world of sports reporting has evolved. While the traditional approach to sports journalism revolved around newsprint, the public has now turned to social media as their primary source for sports information. Because of this shift in sports journalism, one must know the different ways in which he or she can use social media to send sports messages in more effective, interesting ways.
According to this week’s lecture and Gisondi’s "Field Guide to Covering Sports," there are various uses for social media in the sports journalism realm:
- Promotion
- News
- Cover live events
- Commentary/opinion
- Interaction with followers
- Behind the scenes (Photo Source: Knowledge@Wharton)
- Audio and video, images, hyperlinks, etc…
- Cite interesting facts in a more visually pleasing manner
- To reveal a personal side
Because social media was designed to connect people and bring them together, those working with social media for sports must know how to efficiently use all of these tactics. For me, working in the Valley City State University Sports Information Department, I get to use a variety of social media platforms in many different ways.
Let me display a few ways in which we use our social media through the same principles as discussed in this class in our office for sports information:
Promotion
In this example, my boss (Mark Potts) created this tweet to promote a home basketball game for the VCSU men's basketball team. The Viking men hosted the North Star Athletic Association conference quarterfinal on Tuesday night, so Mark created this post as a way to encourage students to attend the sporting event.
News
Another type of content we like to create in that of news sharing. In this case, on of the office workers created this post to share the great news that one of our athletes had been named North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) Men's Basketball Player of the Week. Sharing news - especially positive news like this - catches a lot of attention on our social media pages.
(1 reply, 56 likes, 13 retweets)
live coverage
This tweet was crafted by me during a live event. One way that I cover live events sometimes is by creating score graphics during the game to keep those at home updated. I will often include impressive stats with the tweet as well.
- (Ex. "Addison and Schramm lead the Vikings with 9 pts each. #GoVikings" - @VCSUVikings)
Behind the scenes
Now, this tweet is one that the VCSU volleyball team posted. While they are not part of the sports information department, they are one of the sports teams. They shared this "behind the scenes" look at team-building, so our sports information account decided to retweet it. This allows for our followers and viewers to see what our teams are doing off the court and give us an inside look at how they build team chemistry.
Personal Touch
Another topic "hit" on in this module is personal touch (pun intended - softball post to your right)! This is a project that I personally developed in which viewers can get to know athletes on a more personal level. I interview the athletes and create this video to share on our Twitter and Facebook accounts. This is a way that we get our followers to be entertained beyond sports, as well as to develop a better understanding of those they are cheering for.
Final Touches
A few other things discussed in this week's lecture and reading assignment have to do with visual appeal. While we can write good information, journalists need to set themselves apart and keep their readers interested. Especially due to the limitations set by Twitter in terms of character count.
Some additions that you can see throughout the previously displayed tweets throughout this blog post are images, infographics, hyperlinks and video. These are all ways you can amp up your social media posts or journal articles. You can also use external sources or audio to improve your posts.
The only question I have for you today is this:
How will you set yourself apart in the world of sports reporting on social media?
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References
Gisondi, J. (2011). Field Guide to Covering Sports. CQ Press. (p. 89-99)
Vareberg, Kyle. [Kyle Vareberg]. (2020, Jan.) Week 7 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blRqtmzxpkE&feature=youtu.be
Hannah - I have never used social media for anything but advertising plays or events I was putting on. One example was coordinating homecoming at VCSU. Our social media strategy was to be active regularly, provide plenty of updates, and be interactive. I think I would probably try these same strategies even today. Great question! -Kyle
I do like how you integrated tweets from the VCSU Sports Information Department into your pitch. For people who like to read more about how social media is used in regards to athletics, seeing real cases is incredibly beneficial. I'd like to ask you a few questions.
Hannah,
I really like how you incorporated tweets that you have done for VCSU's Sports Information Department. Seeing actual examples that are used is something very useful for people looking to further understand how social media is used in relation to sports. I want to ask a couple of questions. First, is Twitter the most popular platform for VCSU's Sports Information Department? I wasn't sure if Instagram or Facebook were also useful. Second, out of the different ways you displayed to use social media, which one generates the most buzz? As far as likes, comments, sharing/retweet? Really interesting post!
-Kurt Simmons