May 24 2013

#Indy500: 2013 Social Media Guide

In preparation for your racing weekend, I put together a social media guide to this year’s Indy 500. Spectacle, excitement, tradition all envelop the 500. Although Indy racing is not as popular as it once was, there is still a pull, a magic to racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that draws fans to this legendary racetrack every Memorial weekend.

Josef Newgarden Instagram

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Except for two accounts, all Twitter handles were obtained via the @IndyCar Twitter list: Drivers – 2013

IndyCar’s Twitter account is also a must-follow this weekend. Not only do they have a drivers’ list but they also have lists for media, teams, tracks and more. By far, one of the more organized set of lists I’ve seen since beginning these social media guides. Great resource. Two hashtags of note: #Indy500, #Indy500orBust

Before we get into the guide itself, here’s a few interesting tidbits I found:

  1. Tony Kanaan is the runaway leader in terms of Twitter followers with over 595k.
  2. James Hinchcliffe shows his interest in the business side of things as the only driver in this year’s field on LinkedIn. Also, check out his hashtag-driven helmet design contest: #HinchHelmet
  3. Socially savvy, Pippa Mann, has quite the social media portfolio with the standard networks but is the only driver on Pinterest.

All Likes/followers numbers are as of 5/23-5/24. If you know of any that I’ve missed, please let me know. Thanks.

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Pole position – Car number – Driver

Social Media Links

1. (20) Ed Carpenter

Twitter: @edcarpenter20 – 15,733 followers

Website, Facebook (3,156 likes), Instagram (472 followers)

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2. (26) Carlos Muñoz

Twitter: @CarlosMunoz026 (unverified) – 2,320 followers

Instagram (645 followers)

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3. (25) Marco Andretti

Twitter: @MarcoAndretti – 57,054 followers

Website,  Facebook (3,949 Likes), Instagram (9,228 followers)

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4. (5) EJ Viso

Twitter: @EJVISO – 56,415 followers

Website (site unavailable), Facebook (4,195 Likes)

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5. (2) AJ Allmendinger

Twitter: @AJDinger - 105,773 followers

Website (under reconstruction)

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6. (12) Will Power

Twitter: @12WillPower – 38,940 followers

Website, Facebook (7,474 Likes), Instagram (2,325 followers)

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7. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay

Twitter: @RyanHunterReay – 32,197 followers

Website, Facebook (6,647 Likes), YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr

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8. (3) Helio Castroneves

Twitter: @h3lio - 84,182 followers

Website, Facebook (18,564 Likes), Instagram (1,100 followers)

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9. (27) James Hinchcliffe

Twitter: @Hinchtown - 33,127 followers

Website, Facebook (5,476 Likes), LinkedIn

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10. (4) JR Hildebrand

Twitter: @JRHildebrand – 18,802 followers

Website, Facebook (4,846 Likes ), Instagram (2,440 followers)

YouTube (Panther Racing)

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11. (98) Alex Tagliani

Twitter: @tagliani – 71,759 followers

Website, Facebook (6,278 Likes), YouTube

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12. (11) Tony Kanaan

Twitter: @TonyKanaan – 595,781 followers

Website, Facebook fanpage link via website (10,470 Likes),

Instagram (31,069 followers), YouTube, Flickr

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13. (22) Oriol Servia

Twitter: @OriolServia – 16,424 followers

Website, Instagram (759 followers), YouTube

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14. (19) Justin Wilson

Twitter: @justin_wilson – 24,102 followers

Website, Instagram (1,167 followers),  Meet-Meme

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15. (7) Sebastien Bourdais

Twitter: @BourdaisOnTrack - 6,276 followers

Website

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16. (9) Scott Dixon

Twitter: @ScottDixon9 – 47,729 followers

Website, Facebook (3,742 Likes), Instagram (849 followers)

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17. (10) Dario Franchitti

Twitter: @dariofranchitti - 95,442 followers

Website, Facebook (4,318 Likes)

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18. (14) Takuma Sato

Twitter: @TakumaSotoRacer – 23,792 followers

Website

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19. (83) Charlie Kimball

Twitter: @charliekimball – 6,736 followers

 Website, Facebook (2,696 Likes), Instagram (305 followers), YouTube, Blog

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20. (16) James Jakes

Twitter: @JamesJakes – 8,877 followers

Website, Facebook (no activity since 2012 – 412 Likes)

Instagram (Private although he does tweet pics from it – 788 followers)

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21. (77) Simon Pagenaud

Twitter: @simonpagenaud – 11,757 followers

Website, Facebook (group page link via website – 2,506 members)

Instagram (280 followers)

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22. (60) Townsend Bell

Twitter: @TownsendBell99 (unverified) – 36,715 followers

Website, YouTube

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23. (8) Ryan Briscoe

Twitter: @Ryan_Briscoe – 30,754 followers

Website

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24. (78) Simona De Silvestro

Twitter: @simdesilvestro – 24,909 followers

Website, Facebook (2,891 Likes)

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25. (21) Josef Newgarden

Twitter: @josefnewgarden – 11,052 followers

Website, Facebook (1,157 Likes), Instagram (5,773 followers)

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26. (15) Graham Rahal

Twitter: @GrahamRahal – 46,440 followers

Website, Facebook fanpage link via website (4,011 Likes)

Instagram (6,691 followers), YouTube, App

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27. (6) Sebastian Saavedra

Twitter: @sebsaavedra – 12,138 followers

Website, Facebook (1,879 Likes),

Instagram (5,005 followers), YouTube

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28. (55) Tristan Vautier

Twitter: @TristanVautier (unverified) – 2,282 followers

Website, Facebook (3,847 Likes)

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29. (18) Ana Beatriz “Bia” Figueiredo

Twitter: @Biaracing (unverified) – 36,974 followers

Website, Facebook (1,232 Likes), Instagram (5,700 followers)

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30. (63) Pippa Mann

Twitter: @PippaMann (unverified) – 14,103 followers

Website, Facebook (6,836 Likes), Instagram (1,050 followers),

Pinterest (246 followers), Google+

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31. (41) Conor Daly

Twitter: @ConorDaly22 (unverified) – 11,510 followers

Website (non-working website), Instagram (5,760 followers)

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32. (91) Buddy Lazier

Not on social media. 

Lazier Partners Twitter: @lazier_p - 170 followers

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33. (81) Katherine Legge

Twitter: @katherinelegge – 11,807 followers

Website, Facebook (5,681 followers)

In-race Twitter updates: @KatOnTrack – 1,091 followers

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Might this be a precursor to what’s coming this weekend? Let’s hope so. 

If that photo-finish above to today’s Indy Lights’ Freedom 100, we just might be in for a fantastic Indianapolis 500 this weekend. Not enough? Check out this video:

CadChica Sports

May 22 2013

Twitter Takeovers Taking Over

Sorry about that pun. Well, not really. I mean it fits this story so well that I couldn’t resist.

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Perhaps it’s just because it’s the playoffs or teams/brands are seeing a value in them, but there seems to be an increase in Twitter Takeovers. A Twitter takeover is when a Twitter account has someone run their Twitter account for a set amount of time. The takeover happens with the  takeover-er (not a word, I know) will live tweet with their commentary or just general interaction with fans during the game, match or show. It could also be a general Question & Answer session. Regardless, Twitter Takeovers are becoming popular.

When the actual “first” Twitter Takeover occurred, I don’t know. Having been on Twitter since 2009 (that’s 28 in Twitter years), I am fairly certain there weren’t many, if any at all, back then. It’s not a new fad, however. Just last year, Media Bistro had this article on how “brands” were using celebrities for Twitter Takeovers. Maybe it’s the time of year (playoff-time) but as far as sports-related takeovers go, it seems like there’s one or two…or a few each week. The benefits of a takeover are numerous, depending on the reason for it. Take the case of Kobe Bryant.

Back in late December, Kobe Bryant did a Twitter Takeover of the Nike Basketball account. The “takeover” went so well, that Bryant joined Twitter in January. Today, Bryant enjoys a Twitter following of over 2 million, not to mention his 850k+ Instagram followers he has after joining that social platform in April. A basketball superstar of Bryant’s status used the takeover to launch himself into social media superstar status. It’s helped him continue to transform his public image in a way that five-plus years ago, he wouldn’t have been able to do.

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Here’s a look at some of the most recent Twitter Takeovers:

1. This one flew under the radar but it might be one of the best ones of the month: Kansas City Royals’ pitcher, Danny Duffy, did a takeover of the Royals’ Twitter account last week.

Danny Duffy is a Royals’ pitcher who is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery on the disabled list.  Given that, I think it’s a great idea to have a player on the DL engage with fans in this way. Judging by the tweets of fans (hashtag = #DuffyTakeover), the night was a success.

2. In a Twitter Takeover that spanned two sports, just last week The Rock took over the @NBAonTNT Twitter account.

Utilizing the hashtag, #RockTakeover, allowed fans to follow along with not only The Rock’s tweets on @NBAonTNT but it showed what fans were tweeting at him during the Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat game.

His most popular tweets:

Granted, The Rock’s takeover was most likely tied to his new movie, Fast & Furious 6, coming out in theaters this month, but all in all, he was entertaining and did not tweet anything controversial.

3. Unlike another takeover that happened just last night.

What started off as a “huge mistake” joke, turned into a PR mini-nightmare with this since deleted tweet:

Yeah. Ryder tweeted it. Under the LA Kings’ Twitter account.

Let this be a lesson for future teams/athletes/brands. Be careful who you give the “keys” to your Twitter account. Contrary to what the LA Kings said, they do “reflect” on you.

Ryder himself tweeted his apology, albeit with a slight defiance.

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There are three other recent Twitter Takeovers that I want to briefly mention. Two related to sports and one non-sports.

-A quite popular Twitter Takeover occurred when comedian, Rob Delaney, was “handed the keys” to the MLB’s Twitter account. A union between one of the more funnier Twitter accounts and one of the best leagues at doing social media was a match made in Twitter heaven. MLB.si.com has a list of his Twitter exploits here which for all intents and purposes was tame, compared to the aforementioned, LA Kings account.

-In coordination with last week’s XGames Barcelona, ESPN’s @XGames account was taken over by the legend himself, Tony Hawk. As captured by ESPN in a slideshow that you can see here, Hawk made the perfect ambassador and expert for the XGames during the Barcelona event.

-On a completely non-sports note, when doing a quick search for Twitter Takeovers, I stumbled across a story on the ABC show, Scandal. Scandal is a show that I only know because of Twitter. Many of the people I follow or are one of my Twitter lists are BIG Scandal fans. As someone who is not an avid television watcher, I find it curious how into it people are (much like “Mad Men” or “Justified”, etc). In reading this story a bit more, social media (Twitter Takeovers) has been an integral part of its success. 

When the second season premiered in September, so did the show’s live-tweet campaign. Hashtags like #AskScandal and #Scandal dominate, but week to week, new ones pop up based on the story line: #WhoShotFitz, #WhatTheHuck and #WhoIsTheMole.

Initially, I hated the Twitter takeover. It left too much room for spoilers. I’m a longtime Shonda Rhimes fan girl, from “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Private Practice” and now “Scandal.” If she creates it, I’ll tune in. But there’s nothing that will blow out my birthday candles faster than someone telling me the end of a show. Online, it happens often. If I’m not watching in real time, I won’t log on.

But there was a payoff in social media. More of my friends, online and in real life, started to watch. Now, the show averages 8.3 million viewers. People who slept on the first season are wide awake for Olivia and company. Even Oprah credits social media with bringing “Scandal” to her attention.

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Twitter Takeovers are here to stay. For now. In the fast-moving world that is social media, who knows what will be in vogue a year from now. It’s proven to be an encouragement to athletes to join Twitter, like with Kobe. And when done properly, it is an excellent way for teams/brands to engage with fans on Twitter.

YOUR TURN: What do you think of Twitter Takeovers? Do you, as a fan, like the idea? Have you engaged with anyone during a takeover? What has been the best one you’ve seen so far? Who would you like to see do a takeover?

Let me know your thoughts on Twitter Takeovers.

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CadChica Sports

May 20 2013

Tweeting Support For Oklahoma

There are moments when working in sports social media that an event in the world makes you stop and take notice. In the past year alone, two news events (Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in CT, Boston Marathon bombing) have transcended sports and captured the social media consciousness. And today, in what might be the worst tornado disaster in history, we have Oklahoma.

Words escape me. The devastation is massive. The recovery will be equally massive. But they will need help. At times like these, its nice to see social media playing a bit part in that effort.

I do not know who is behind the Twitter account @TheOrangeCone. Sarcasm combined with knowledge and passion for the sport of racing, NASCAR in particular, Cone is definitely one to follow for me. Two simple tweets could have been enough for an account with over 33-thousand followers but it wasn’t.

One tweet can stir a community. Even a Twitter community:

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How much money that one tweet generated matters not. What matters is that it prompts action. To be sure, Cone was not alone. Here are a few examples of how others in the sports Twitterverse got involved:

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West Virginia’s baseball team was in Oklahoma for the Big 12 tournament.

Safety assured and not willing to sit idly by, the team came to serve:

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A coach, not from Oklahoma, went full-bore in spawning Twitter-action himself:

Replies? YES!!

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I’d like to end with two tweets as poignant reminders today. One of encouragement and one a sobering perspective:

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How you can help:

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross

Online donation can be made to the Salvation Army: https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/uss/eds/aok

Feed The Children online donations here

World Vision Disaster Relief Fund here

Social media resources via The White House here

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CadChica Sports

May 15 2013

Challenge The Twitter Rants

Never let it be said there’s a dull moment on Twitter. But perhaps the most innocuous of tweets seems to be speaking louder to me than all others:

It’s not so much the tweet but the story link that has captured my attention. Here’s the headline:

Brennan: Too much made of Twitter rants on athletes

In a USA Today article, columnist Christine Brennan discusses the recent epidemic of fans harassing athletes on Twitter. For clarification and the sake of this column, I will call it harassing. Because that’s what it is as evidenced by some of the tweets directed this week at highly sought after basketball recruit,Andrew Wiggins.

Rumors were that Wiggins was headed to Florida State. No, make that Kentucky. Rumors of where only heightened fans interest in his decision. When he decided yesterday to attend the University of Kansas, non-Kansas fans let loose with their venom according to this article from Sports Grid.

From Brennan,

18-year-old Canadian high school basketball sensation Andrew Wiggins, who on Tuesday picked Kansas over Florida State, Kentucky and North Carolina.

This decision of course did not please fanatics who follow those other three schools, so they did what any red-blooded, hot-headed sports fan does these days and jumped on Twitter to call a high school senior every awful name and slur imaginable. Internet stories then were written quoting some of the most egregious comments, thereby giving those who tweeted them a great victory: mainstream media validation.

One thing Brennan gets right in the paragraph above, they “jumped on Twitter to call a high school senior ever awful name and slur imaginable”. Fan behavior can sometimes be, shall we say, deplorable, especially on Twitter.

She continues:

It is at this point in the story where you would figure we all should throw up our hands and talk about how the civilized sports world as we know it is coming to an end and how any semblance of intelligent discourse about sports is over.

But let’s look a little deeper into several of the particularly awful tweets about Wiggins. I’m not going to name the accounts they came from, and no family newspaper would ever quote the words they used, but there is other information we can use to judge their impact, their reach and their so-called clout.

The focus in the remainder of Brennan’s article is on the effectiveness of these tweets (follower numbers, etc.). That, in itself, misses part of the beauty of Twitter: communication. As Kevin DeShazo of Fieldhouse Media points out in his rebuttal article:

How many Twitter followers these idiots (I won’t call them fans) have isn’t the issue. They aren’t trying to be “worldwide social commentators.” They are sending tweets with Wiggins’ Twitter handle, meaning they want Wiggins to see the tweets. Hateful, awful, violent, racist tweets. And he does. Whether or not the world does is irrelevant.

Fans are communicating their feelings at athletes, teams and media in ways we’ve never seen on this massive of a scale. I know this because I’ve written on it here, here and here to highlight just a few. Fans can be passionate without hatred. We can trash-talk without bitterness. We can love our teams without disparaging, threatening or telling others to go kill themselves, when our team loses. We don’t have to behave this way.

But fans have turned their love of teams/schools into part of their identity. Every loss, every recruit-rejection becomes an affront to the individual fan. Fans take it personally and lash out. And because of that aforementioned beauty of Twitter, fans lash out AT the affronting individual as if it was a “personal” rejection of the fan themselves.

And that, ultimately, is the point missed by Ms. Brennan. Twitter has enabled some fans to go far beyond what they would do in person or at a game. Flipping an athlete off is one thing (yeah, I’m looking at you Miami Heat lady). But tweets filled with hatred, racial epithets and wishes of harm are inexcusable. To let it go unchallenged, is to condone its acceptance. The only way fan behavior will change is to challenge it. For far too long, the rules have simply been to make fun of “fanatics” or ignore them. That was before we had the tools necessary to police ourselves as fans. We have Twitter. We have blogs. We have Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Google+, etc. Public forums where we fans can say enough already.

Challenging fan behavior isn’t providing “media validation”. It’s simply saying: 

Be Better!

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CadChica Sports

May 15 2013

Journalists Anonymous

Monitoring Twitter most of the day can be a mixture of entertainment, learning and frustration.

I came across a tweet in my NFL list today that was intriguing.

Quickly it was followed by this

Sources can be a (wait for it) source of consternation among many in the sports media Twitterverse. As such, I retweeted the above two tweets.

But the tweets continued. One, however, stood out among others:

It goes without saying that there is obviously more going on that we don’t know about behind the tweets. Something sure set him off to tweet/post on Facebook that diatribe about journalism.

No, what I’m more interested in what was said about bloggers.

For a number of years, I’ve felt that there was a lack of a knowledgeable (aka: reasonable) fan voice to the sports conversation. Too many times you hear the ‘idiots’ get on sports radio or are laughed at on Twitter as what’s representative of the sports fan. That, for me, is far from the case. Radio is a little more selective than Twitter as producers can decide who gets on the air. Often times, it’s the ranting/raving lunatics that get air-time (think: ratings).  Twitter allows for anyone, and I do mean anyone, to have a voice.

That’s why I started this blog. It’s one thing to tweet 140 characters of what you feel. It’s another thing to put your sports opinions out there on a blog. Although I’m technically “in media’, at my core I’m just a fan. And at their core, bloggers are fans too.

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The fan voice is getting more and more powerful. Why else would sites like SB Nation and Bleacher Report become such prominent members of the sports media industry? Fans want a voice. And fans are the backbone of those two sites which is probably why Deadspin, et al, have added Community-type pages where regular folks can be contributors.

Contributors who are non-journalists.

Non-journalists who do not have a journalism degree AND are not paid to write on “blogs” or sites. Non-journalists who believe that there is an unheard voice in the mass conversation that is the sports landscape. Non-journalists who what they lack in education make up for with passion. Non-journalists who know that despite the odds, there is a place for them if they write responsibly, ethically, analytically, and diligently.

See, I’m a non-journalist. I didn’t go to college. I don’t have the degree. I haven’t toiled at a newspaper. But, I like to put that I went to the:

University of Life

School of Hard Knocks

Degree in Common Sense

In this day and age, common sense can be a forgotten trait. But as I’ve transitioned from the corporate world to sports media, it’s come in more often than you can imagine. Common sense helps me to know when something should be reported (tweeted or retweeted). Common sense guides me in who I should trust or for that matter, follow on Twitter. Common sense has taught me to use my instincts with interview questions or topics to write.

And common sense combined with an uncompromising work ethic is what I have built this blog on. It’s what I’ve used to gain what I hope is respect in this business.

Despite not having that title of “journalist”.

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CadChica Sports

By CadChica Sports • Posted in Media
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