Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American readers! The Activ8Social team enjoyed a relaxing long weekend jam packed with football, food, and more football … which unfortunately included Ndamukong Suh’s dirty play against the Green Bay Packers. Without further ado, this week’s SoMash reviews the college football end zone hashtag on Rivalry Weekend, Google+ livestreaming NBA player exhibition games, and the University of Arizona’s major announcement made via Twitter.
Mississippi State Paints Twitter Hashtag in Endzone
This past weekend was rivalry weekend in College Football and perhaps the biggest story outside of the Arkansas vs. LSU mega showdown centered around the Battle for the Golden Egg — the annual football game between in-state rivals, the Mississippi State University (MSU) Bulldogs and the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Rebels which State won 31-3.
In what’s was determined to be a huge first for college football programs around the country, Mississippi State painted #HAILSTATE, which is the proud school’s traditional rallying cry and fight song, in its north end zone for the big game.
According to a Mashablereport, Mark Cuban sang the praises of the SEC school saying:
“It’s a fun way to involve social media at the game, and to TV viewers it’s going to stir up some emotions between both teams”
Cuban also said he would consider using a similar approach at future Dallas Mavericks games (that’s of course if the 2012 NBA lockout actually ends), however league licensing rules would present a nearly impossible high hurdle for Cuban to clear before he could make good on that promise. Could you imagine seeing the @swish41 on the back of Dirk Nowitzki’s jersey?
While an extremely unlikely scenario in the NBA, the use of Twitter hashtags is an emerging trend at sporting events in less regulated sports leagues around the world. No less than three weeks ago, Mexican premiere division soccer team Club de Fútbol Jaguares de Chiapas replaced player names with Twitter handles on the back of jerseys.
The Mississippi State athletic department officials originally planned to paint “HAILSTATE” in the stadium’s end zone when somebody suggested using a Twitter hashtag instead to increase media attention and online buzz … needless to say that person deserves a raise! The SEC school even considered hashtagging the names on the back of each player’s jerseys, which read “Hail State” but elected against doing so.
Google+ To Livestream Homecoming Tour
With the public launch of Google+ Pages for brands, athletes, and celebrities now a couple weeks old, Google announced they will sponsor and live stream a four-game NBA exhibition tour featuring major NBA superstars and friends LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul early next month. NBA players all across the country have staged quasi-pickup games all summer long because of the lockout.
During the course of the Google+ “Homecoming Tour”, LeBron, Wade, Melo, and CP3 will each host a game in their respective hometowns between Dec. 1 and Dec. 10. All proceeds from the tour will benefit the athlete’s charitable foundations. Events such as food drives, educational outreach programs, and clinics will also be offered in each city of the tour.
Arizona Announces Rich Rod As Coach Via Twitter
Last Tuesday, former West Virginia University and University of Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez was officially introduced as the University of Arizona football coach, but the biggest news of all was how the Arizona athlete director, Greg Byrne, made the initial public announcement … via his official Twitter account the previous night.
After eight season’s of mediocrity, the new hire was a major decision for the Pac 12 university, and the University of Arizona was clearly in search of a way to generate significant buzz around Rich Rod when Greg Byrne tweeted these words with a Twitter photo revealing the decision:
“And the new Arizona football coach and his family is…….” and included a link to an iPhone photo of the athletic director, Rodriguez and his family.”
The decision to distribute the news via Greg Byrne’s personal Twitter in lieu of the University’s official athletics Twitter account was certainly an interesting choice but arguably makes sense considering Byrne’s Twitter has significantly more followers. However, given the goal was most likely to engage the Wildcats’ most loyal and emotionally invested fans, the University missed opportunity to build a social media asset that is sustainable beyond the tenure of any one University employee perhaps representing a missed opportunity.
If the goal was generating buzz, Greg Byrne’s tweet certainly accomplished that and more. ”Rich Rodriguez” immediately began to trend on Twitter and in less than 24 hours, the photo generated more than 63,000 views. What do you think of the University of Arizona’s decision to make the announcement via social media with a family photo?
