Tag Archives: social media

Using Vine to Diversify Your Social Media Content

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It used to be bad enough when people would link their Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts together and send the exact same content simultaneously to both services. I cringed seeing a 50 word post that originated on Facebook get cut off halfway on Twitter. Or maybe even worse, I got turned off right away when I saw a tweet show up on my Facebook newsfeed with five different hash tags and a big Hootsuite or Tweetdeck logo accompanying it. Forget the fact that Facebook now has clickable hash tags, back then it just showed laziness and lack of understanding by the user over two different social media outlets.

Of course, over time this issue of duplicating content over different social media outlets has gotten worse. As new platforms have come in and gained popularity, people can now easily share the same content over three or four social networks at once. A year ago the annoyance I saw too many people do was take a picture on Instagram and send it out to Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. Besides the formatting nightmare that this reflected on the social sites other than Instagram, it just became tiresome to follow a certain person through various networks and know that you were always going to see everything they posted 3X.

Before I get to the main point/solution of this post let me say this: Sometimes we take awesome pictures that do need to be shared across all of our social networks. I get that. It happens with me sometimes and it also happens through the accounts I run at Grizzly Athletics. However, when this is the case post the picture separately on each respective account just so you can format it correctly. Not only will it make you look not so lazy but it will also make your posts look much cleaner and you will gain many more impressions, “likes’, retweets, etc.

When we do something worthy (or even unworthy) that warrants posting to all of our social media accounts, I firmly believe we need to document it in a unique way on each of our social platforms. So yes, preferably, when you go to Buffalo Wild Wings you need to cover it in a way that your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts all show something original from each other. A few months ago this principle that I am preaching would take quite a bit of work and require a lot of different shots with your iPhone camera. However, since then, a service has come along that has made this process easier.

Hands down, Vine is the coolest and fastest growing social media service available right now. About a month ago I gave a glowing review of the service so if you need a refresher on the details of Vine, check out that particular blog post. Anyway, not only is Vine a tremendous app by itself, but the content you record off of Vine can dramatically bolster your other social media outlets.

Make sure to follow me on Vine (@BrentReser)

Make sure to follow me on Vine (@BrentReser)

Just like everything else, please refrain from posting every single Vine you record directly to Facebook and Twitter. I would advise to never post a Vine on Facebook. It looks awful on the timeline, a lot of people on Facebook don’t get it, and most Vine videos rarely receive any “likes”. If you make a really cool Vine and your caption for it translates to Tweet-speak go ahead and post it to Twitter but make a general rule to only do this for 15%-20% of your Vines.

Okay, enough of all of my disclaimers! From time to time it takes me a while to get to the point. Anyway, with Vine you have a six second video of some story, event, or situation. Within those six seconds of video, you have hundreds (maybe even thousands) of images at your disposal. Remember back when you were a kid and it was so much fun to pause a video you were watching and capture still images?! Well you can do that with Vine only this time around the picture is clearer and with one simple move you can save it forever.

This move is simple. When the Vine video is playing, simply tap the screen to pause it. It will take some playing around but once you pause the video at the exact time that you want, activate the screen capture command on your iPhone. Now go to your camera roll, pull up the picture, and crop out the Vine interface surrounding the image. Save your work and you now have a perfect image that you were crafty enough to capture off of video. Cool, huh?

I caught this cool image by using a Vine video that my girlfriend took. Would never have been able to capture this with an iPhone.

I caught this cool image by using a Vine video that my girlfriend took. Would never have been able to capture this with an iPhone.

Use images captured from Vine videos to supply unique content to each of your social media outlets. Let’s go back to the Buffalo Wild Wings example. Let’s say you take a Vine that includes you entering the restaurant, sitting at the table with your friends, ordering from the waitress, scanning the numerous televisions, scoping out everyone’s orders, and finally smiling with a big plate of wings in front of you. Okay, you got the cool Vine video taken care of with you at BDubbs but now you got to document the experience on your other social networks too. Working directly from your Vine video, let’s get to work.

Let’s first start with Twitter. A perfect tweet for this occasion would be something like this: @BrentReser Watching the NBA Finals at BWW with @ImaginaryFriend , @FriendWhoDoesntExist , @WishIHadFriends #winning . Okay, now you use the Vine footage you took of your table to produce the picture that will go with this Tweet. Just pause the video right when it gets to the shot of your friends and go through the process I outlined. Attach that picture to your tweet and send away!

Time to move onto Instagram. Vine is PERFECT for making collages and this is what we are going to do for our Instagram image. For the make believe Vine video to Buffalo Wild Wings I mentioned six different scenes. Simply capture a photo from four of those scenes to make a cool collage (I am leaving out the two scenes that we are using for the other social platforms). You will have a nice montage of the actual restaurant, the waitress taking your order, the cool TV set up, and then the table full of everyone’s delicious wings. Give the collage a simple title such as A night out at Buffalo Wild Wings #BWW #Winning .

Now time to finish with the king of the social networks, Facebook. This one is all about you. Simply take the ending scene of the Vine video of you with a mile wide grin and a big plate of wings and capture it. Now post it to your timeline with a caption such as Great night at Buffalo Wild Wings. Time to devour these wings. Watch as this single original picture you put up garners numerous likes and comments.

It is important to form a consistent brand of yourself throughout all of your social media networks but it is equally important to establish it in a unique and fitting way through each individual service. Vine has made it easier to accomplish this goal. Be creative and give your followers something different through each one of your social platforms. Don’t Blink.

Do I Spend Too Much TIme on Social Media?

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At work today while I simultaneously shot a Vine video of our equipment room, posted a photo on Facebook of our stadium in graduation set up mode, Instagramed an image of a yummy Griz cake, and tweeted out a press release it dawned on me that I can’t escape social media. Definitely not at work, and not in my personal life either….not that I am complaining.

I take care of social media duties at Grizzly Athletics. I oversee 11 different Facebook accounts, 11 different Twitter accounts, an Instagram account, a Vine account, a YouTube account, and very soon a Pinterest account that we are currently developing. I could spend twelve hours each day non-stop just working on this end of job. But I can’t because of the other part I am in charge of that includes: running a website, promoting other forms of digital marketing, overseeing a mascot program, contributing to various special projects, and of course working at pretty much every Griz event there is.

While not at work I become fully engrossed in my personal forms of social media. While I don’t Pin or YouTube, I do spend a considerable amount of time blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, Instagramming, Vining, Snapping, and doing whatever social app is popular at the moment. I am constantly charging my phone because the battery dies so quickly as the result of my constant usage. A full battery will usually last me from the morning until about 2 p.m.

Do I spend too much time on social media? Just read right below and I answer that question.

Do I spend too much time on social media? Just read right below and I answer that question.

Do I spend too much time on social media? I sure do! This is something that I am well aware of, just on some certain days (like today) it becomes even clearer. Do I regret spending too much time on it? Hmmmmmmmm. I would say that 90% of the time I don’t while 10% of the time I do.

The 10% kicks in when I get burnt out. Or it kicks in when I see people acting stupid on it or when I see spam accounts running rampant and ruining the content of others. I also regret it when I realize that at that certain moment social media is taking me away from enjoying a beautiful day outside, a great game coming down to the final seconds on television, or a face-to-face conversation with someone I love. Those are definitely reality checks.

But the majority of the time I honestly don’t regret it. Social media has opened a lot of doors for me and connected me with so many people. It is a huge reason why I am getting paid right now. I have learned so much and contributed so much by way of SM. I also take solace in the fact that social media is simply the communication tool of our time. One hundred years from now there will be far more advanced forms of communication and I guarantee you that people will remark, “Remember back in the old days when I could simply just send someone a Facebook Message or an eight second snap picture? Today everything is just so complicated.” I don’t let people who believe that social media is corrupting communication to guilt trip me. Everything is relative and people will always have a skewed sense of the past.

So while 9 out of 10 times I don’t think twice about my excessive use of social media I want to get to the point where 10 out of 10 times I never let it bother me. I think I am on the right track because at least I recognize the rare times I do feel like social media gets in the way. I just need to take to heart that I don’t need to document every single moment via some social channel and instead just experience it through my soul…no smart device needed. I am a few minor adjustments away from feeling totally content with one of my passions and when I make them, it will be a great thing. Don’t Blink.

Vine

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Move over Snap Chat, there is a new darling of the social media world. Although not completely entrenched in mainstream use yet, in a couple months I think this little app will be on the iPhones of everyone who happens to own one. I give you Vine.

Vine is a video sharing application for the iPhone that takes six second videos. Yes, a very basic premise and I am sure many of you can rattle off a couple other video sharing apps that do similar things. I used cinemagram for a long time, an app that at first glance might seem like Vine, but not really. Vine differentiates itself because you film your videos in a “start and stop” type of fashion. You have six seconds to film whatever you want but you can space those six seconds over two days or two years if you want.

You see, to start creating your video you push the screen once in the actual app. It will then start filming. You let one second go by and then you hit the screen again and it stops it. You then press the screen again to resume filming…and then stop…and then start again. Of course you don’t have to start and stop over and over, by all means you can let the video run for the whole six seconds and post as is. But Vine is so cool because you can tell a story in six seconds.

 

This was my first ever Vine video.

This was my first ever Vine video.

 

Let me just give a couple examples. Let’s say you were cooking homemade pizza. You could take a half second shot of each step in the process of making that pizza. You can create a video that starts with a countertop full of ingredients that goes to a plain crust that goes to a crust with sauce that goes to a crust with sauce and cheese that goes to a crust with sauce and cheese in an oven that goes to a perfectly baked pizza at the end….all in six seconds. Or today I made the early morning drive from Spokane to Missoula. During the drive I shot different parts of the trip, culminating in a six second video that took me from Spokane to the Montana border.

However, not all of your Vine videos have to be so cut and dry and make perfect chronological sense like the two examples I just provided. The best Vine videos are the ones that incorporate random shots, utilize the actual iPhone user himself/herself, and bring an element of humor to the action. But let me not get too ahead of myself, let me explain the app a little more.

When you post a video it will go to a home feed type thing just like any other social media service. You scroll down and you view all the other videos that people you follow have uploaded. Videos are stacked vertically on top of each other with only one video fitting into the screen of the iPhone at a time. Whatever video you have situated in your iPhone screen will play. Complete with full sound, the video will start and finish…and then start again! Videos on Vine loop endlessly and that is a good thing because it takes a few views to capture everything that is jam packed into a six second video. Like other social services, hash tags play a large role. You can search any topic that strikes your fancy and watch endless six second videos that others have created on that said subject. Just another way to pass time on your iPhone.

Glimpse from the Vine video I did on my travels from Spokane to Missoula.

Glimpse from the Vine video I did on my travels from Spokane to Missoula.

As I briefly mentioned, Vine comes with sound. This allows you to narrate your videos. With so many different shots you can produce, you can do some really fun things with narration to make yourself sound pretty cool. If you wanted, you could do a Vine video with 12 different shots and say one word for each of those 12 shots. The end result is a pretty trippy sounding video.

Vine will skyrocket in the social media world because it allows users to be creative. The amount of room that is available for people to experiment and let their artsy juices flow is on the same level as Instagram…perhaps even vaster. The limits are just endless on what all you can do. I know there are many talented and creative people out there that don’t even know that Vine exists but when they do, they will create some amazing content.

While there are many talented and creative people out there who don’t know about Vine’s existence there are also many people in general out there who don’t know about Vine’s existence. Probably about 5-7% of my social media friends (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc) are on Vine. Of that 5-7%, only about half are active on it. I used to be in that half that had an account set up but didn’t touch it but I recently came to grips with the power and intrigue of it. I now post regularly. Just today I created a Vine account for our athletic department. Hear me now, this app will soon explode.

A couple drawbacks with Vine: First off, it is only available to iPhone users so it definitely excludes a large population of people. Secondly, you can only take shots from Vine’s video player. Thus you can’t import footage that you took with the standard iPhone video feature. But this app is so young and promising!! The future is bright and improvements will be made. I recommend that if you have an iPhone you should definitely jump on the bandwagon, download the app, and start Vining! Don’t Blink.

Instagram Spam

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I still choose Instagram as my favorite social media service. With over 2,000 pictures taken and counting on my account, I will not be slowing down anytime soon (Follow me…@BrentReser). Even though I am loyal to Instagram and routinely sing its praises, there is something about the service that takes some of the fun out of it: SPAM.

I try to keep the selfies to a minimum.

I try to keep the selfies to a minimum.

I know, I know, I know, all social media outlets are prone to spam. What service has not fallen victim to annoying garbage? Facebook has all the silly app requests and wall posts, Twitter has fake accounts, and MySpace became a deserted wasteland overran by spam. But you know what? Besides MySpace, the other two social media services successfully combated spam as the networks evolved. With Facebook I can simply turn on a switch that will prevent users from posting mafia, angry birds, and entourage gibberish on my wall. I can block certain applications from even bothering me with a notification. With Twitter, no longer do I get e-mail notifications telling me that some bot has followed me. No longer do I get automated replies to my tweets. Twitter cleaned up and has policed its service effectively. Bravo.

Too bad for Instagram…instead of starting out with problems and fixing them over time like FB and Twitter, the service started out pretty clean but is now getting taken advantage of by spammers. My frustration stems from the fact that there are just so many ways to get spammed on Instagram. Many of these ways ruin pictures, distort “like” counts, pollute the picture database, and trick gullible people. Let me run down the different ways that spam manifests itself on Instagram.

Spam Followers/Spam Likes: Nothing sucks more than opening up Instagram and getting notified that you have eight new likes and three new followers only to see that the notifications are only popping up because accounts such as @Shoutouts_123321_ and @_get_new_ipad_3_6 are following you and liking your pictures. How are these accounts allowed to exist? Everyone knows that these profiles are not going to get anyone shout outs or anyone an iPad just like the @get5550likes_vvf account is not going to get anyone 5,550 likes. Besides being completely useless and impersonal, these accounts also contribute to an inflated “like” count. Call me weird but I do take pride in pictures that I post that produce lots of “likes”. However, all sense of accomplishment is gone when spam accounts make up half the of them. These garbage accounts don’t just waste space, they provide skewed data to users.

 

It is depressing to have so many great followers only to have it ruined by a spam account.

It is depressing to have so many great followers only to have it ruined by a spam account.

 

Curse of the Hash Tag: Whereas all users are prone to the above general spam accounts that follow and “like” everyone, those of us who enjoy hash tags must put up with a different wave of spammers…those accounts that automatically “like” specific pictures marked with a hash tag. Now I love cats and I love Instagraming pictures of my own cat but I HATE getting “likes” from @mjthecat, @instaabycat,@raph_the_cat, and @tuxedokitty01 the SECOND that I post a picture of her. Besides once again inflating numbers, these accounts make me look like I have some type of sick cat fetish. I find it unnerving that Instagram has not implemented a policy or software that disallows spam accounts from automatically liking pictures based on keywords. Just because I like football does not mean that each time I hash tag #football in an Instagram picture that it has to get “liked” by counterfeit football accounts.

I love cats, but this spam account is much too corny for me.

I love cats, but this spam account is much too corny for me.

Automated Comments: Out of the four spam tactics on Instagram that I am speaking out against tonight, this one irritates me the most. In fact, it doesn’t just irritate me, it makes me mad. It is one thing if a fake account is going to “like” my picture and get its name denoted under the image but it is a whole different thing when a trash account comments for everyone to see. I detest messages that go like this…”Hey want 2 make some $$? Respond with your name and address to be eligible”…..or….”Follow us right now to gain 1,500 followers guaranteed.” I want nothing more than my photos to spark conversation between my friendly followers. It makes Instagram fun and engaging. But when a spam account puts some baloney credit card or money related automated message under the picture, it kills discussion. Worse though, it just violates my account and I hate it. I never remember Facebook having problems with spam appearing under photos. Why Instagram? What will always get me to lash out, however, is when a legitimate account leaves an automated spam message under one of my pictures. Right away I will call the user out. A few times the user has responded to me with curse words but more often than not the user will apologize and admit that he/she had their account hacked. If the user responds to me with obscenities I will report that account, if the user is sympathetic and admits to getting hacked I take it as a self-awareness lesson. Regardless, Instagram needs to do something to control this.

Eyesore Pictures: Finally, Instagram needs to clean up the pictures in its database that really aren’t pictures at all. The service has a problem with spam photos that perpetrate the same types of schemes that spam accounts plague on our own legitimate photos. For example, I love to search hash tags on Instagram. Every now and then I will enter #Vegas. Mixed in with all the beautiful pictures of the Vegas strip and the gorgeous pools, you will find several images that consist of terrible graphics and mangled words. Many times the photos will nudge the users to do something to **surprise surprise**gain more followers or to apply for cash. These spam pictures will use many of the most popular searched hash tags to aid people in finding them. It is a joke. It is also an eyesore and a complete scam.

I hate seeing this garbage when I search hash tags.

I hate seeing this garbage when I search hash tags.

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Instagram is an awesome service with still a lot of potential. However, measures need to be taken to address this growing spam problem. With its multi-billion dollar deal with Facebook, I am hoping that the great minds at Mark Zuckerberg’s company can create something to lessen the impact of the junk train that is making the constant rounds at Instagram. With any business or service the goal is to improve, not digress. While still on the upside, I hope Instagram cleans up this problem before it gets really out of control. What a shame it would be to become the next MySpace. Don’t Blink.

The Griz Intern Social Media Contest

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One thing I have mentioned before that I covet about my job is having the opportunity to work with a group of 8-10 college students who serve as interns in the Marketing Department of Grizzly Athletics. I utilize our interns heavily when it comes to our social media program. However, even though many people equate social media with the word “fun”, I have to admit that much of what I have them do for me doesn’t constitute fun at all. Basically, I have them do a lot of adding, inviting, and deleting. Because of the monotonous and boring tasks I put them through, I try to give them at least one opportunity to let their creative juices flow and let them shine within Griz Social Media.

Christie and I with several of this year's interns

Christie and I with several of this year’s interns

For the second year in a row, I have instituted the Griz Intern Picture Challenge. To put it simply, this is a contest where our interns each submit one Griz related picture and battle it out for the most “likes” on our official Montana Grizzlies Facebook page.

That is the simple description of the contest. Of course there is so much more to it…….well, not really.

I presented the contest at our weekly intern meeting a week ago last Monday. I laid down the rules and told them that they had a week to brainstorm, capture, and then send me a picture that in some way relates to Grizzly Athletics. Because yesterday was President’s Day, I made the deadline today. Now that I have all the pictures in my possession, the fun can really begin.

Each weekday starting from today through the end of next week during the time period of 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., I will feature one of the intern’s photos on the Montana Grizzlies page, under the Montana Grizzlies name. From the exact time that I post each photo, that particular image will have exactly twenty-four hours to accrue the most “likes” possible. For example, I posted the first picture of the contest at 4:08 p.m. today. The picture is eligible to receive countable “likes” up until 4:08 p.m. on February 20. The second the deadline hits, I will record the total amount of “likes’ for that photo and that will count as the intern’s score.

This was the picture submitted by my intern Gianna. I ran this one today at 4:08 p.m. on our Facebook page.

This was the picture submitted by my intern Gianna. I ran this one today at 4:08 p.m. on our Facebook page.

Yesterday I randomly drew the order of when each intern will have his/her picture posted. Yes, everyone knows that some days and exact times of posting are more advantageous than others. My interns also know that news at the intercollegiate level breaks unpredictably and can result in a picture getting drowned out on the Facebook page immediately, even if it was only the lead story for fifteen minutes. So naturally some pictures will be in more of a position to succeed than others but it is just the luck of the draw and the nature of the contest.

Our Montana Grizzlies Facebook page has close to 80,000 likes. We have the most successful Facebook page at the FCS level and we beat out numerous other schools in the BCS ranks. None of the fans of our page know that the contest is going on. They simply will just see nice, creative pictures displayed around the same time for the next several days. If they like them, they will actually “like” them with the click of a mouse or a tap of a finger/thumb and participate in the contest unknowingly. Of course I encourage my interns to campaign for their pictures amongst their friends and family so I guess in that respect people outside our intern circle will get to know about the contest.

On Friday, March 8, the winner of the contest will be announced via our closed Griz Marketing Facebook group. The big prize for the winner? Free school for the duration of their education at UM? Full time job in our department? A special place in our Hall of Champions? No, no, and no. I will award the intern whose picture garners the most “likes” with a gift card to the restaurant of his/her choice. Definitely a small prize but at least it is something to strive for. After all, the biggest draw of this whole contest is just the opportunity to get one’s own photography up on a medium for thousands of people to see.

Last year, Steph won the competition. She chose a gift card to Iron Horse as her prize.

Last year, Steph won the competition. She chose a gift card to Iron Horse as her prize.

Of course I consider Griz Social Media the biggest winner in this whole ordeal. Fans love to see pictures, especially well-taken pictures that are creative and that take them behind the scenes. This contest feeds them for eight days. As everyone knows I LOVE to take pictures and I love to share many of the ones I take for Grizzly Athletics on our social media channels. However, I have a certain style. In life it is good to switch up techniques every once in a while and get a fresh take. That is what makes this contest so valuable. It is not my work…it is the work of the interns. Fans get to see a different angle besides the one that is coming from me or the one that is coming from our university photographer. True, some interns submitted better pictures than others but I guess that is not even for me to decide, it is rather a decision for Griz Nation.

I invite you all to follow the Griz Intern Picture Challenge the rest of this week and all of next week through the official Facebook page of Grizzly Athletics. Enjoy the photos and make sure to “like” the ones that you feel are deserving. Don’t Blink.

Part of the National Discussion: Griz Social Media

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I learned in third grade that I qualified as a concrete sequential person and as I have grown up, I have changed very little. I am very practical, organized (besides my office desk), and structured. I am a guy who goes by the numbers. You tell me something can’t be quantified and I will devise a way to do so, It is just my nature.

People like me put a lot of stock in rankings. We like to see lists of where people, organizations, things, teams, etc. stack up. It is a very clear and bottom line type way of assessing information. Some of the rankings I have paid especially close attention to throughout my life: Best in class (high school and college), FCS and FBS top 25, New York Times Best Seller list, Billboard top 100, world population year-by-year breakdown, world’s richest people, and then about five different sports statistical rankings that I follow religiously. Besides the best in class category as I am not in school anymore, these rankings captivate my interest as I check each one at least once a week, many of them much more than that. They are in an exclusive club in my mind’s hierarchy of importance, a level that is very difficult to get inside.

It is time to add one more.

In yet another example of how important social media is in intercollegiate athletics, a system now exists that ranks the top 200 schools according to their social media prowess. Using Facebook followers, Twitter followers, and Facebook interaction info, the Sports Fan Graph statistically assigns universities a ranking. Because I am in charge of social media for Grizzly Athletics at The University of Montana, I naturally took great interest in the poll once I heard of its existence. Although I knew in advance that we log the highest amount of people under the umbrella of our social media accounts in our conference, I had no idea how we stacked up on the whole FCS level, let alone the whole national level. It just so happens that we do quite well.

The Sports Fan Graph has The University of Montana ranked #53 in the country when it comes to social media. When it comes to all Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) schools, Montana is #1. Currently we rank higher than schools such as Arizona, Baylor, Boise State, Gonzaga, Stanford, and Washington State. We beat out Baylor, Boise State, Georgetown, Hawaii, Maryland, NC State, Nevada, and Connecticut. Conferences are included in the top 200 as well and the Griz rank above the Pac-12, Big East, and Mountain West just to name a few.

For the Griz to hold the #53 spot in the nation for social media is pretty significant. For a college with a much lower enrollment compared to other schools while also located in a state that is very densely populated, to beat out some of the “bigger names” so to speak is cool. But please don’t think I am using this platform to brag. We have our spot on the Sports Graph because of the fans of Griz Nation. Grizzly fans can’t get enough of their team and will support them in every way possible whether it be sitting in the stands, purchasing Griz gear, or following along on Twitter and Facebook. I invite anyone to surf onto any of our athletic Facebook pages and see that high volume of engagement, interaction, and passion that is generated by some of the best fans in the country.

Do what my shirt says and please FOLLOW THE GRIZ! (@UMGRIZZLIES).

Besides tracking the poll just to see where we rank, I love looking at the elite schools topping the list. Ohio State has always been known for ruling the social media world in intercollegiate athletics so it was no surprise when the Sports Graph confirmed them as #1. I marvel at the school’s Facebook following… 1,294,077 likes! Florida (#2) and Texas (#3) join the Buckeyes as the only other NCAA schools to top seven digits. I can’t begin to explain my envy for those types of numbers. How cool would it be to serve as the administrator of one of those pages and sit at your computer typing out a message knowing that you are about to hit over 1,000,000 people? Talk about power at your fingertips! I found it interesting that two basketball schools, North Carolina (#5) and Kentucky (#6), made the top ten. Even though they are powerhouse programs, I would have hypothesized that football powers would have occupied all of the top spots. Alabama claims the #4 spot with Oregon at #7, Wisconsin at #8, Oklahoma at #9, and Iowa at #10. If you look further down through the top 25 spots, you will see a list that pretty much resembles a football or basketball top 25 poll.

Thank you so much to the Sports Graph for making a tool for nerds like me. No matter if it is head-to-head competition, attendance figures, sports information content, merchandise sales, or social media, Montana always loves to see where it matches up on a national level. Although I have said this time and time again on this blog and although I know some people hate hearing it, let me repeat myself again: Social media is here to stay. Don’t Blink.

Social Media: Be Creative

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One of the reoccurring themes that always surface in this blog centers around the goodness that social media has brought society. As someone who gets paid for working with the fastest growing medium of communication in the world, I rightfully should be glorifying the innovative ways that social media has furthered dialogue and connectedness in this growing world. But if you have enough free time on your hands to click on my blog post links often, you also know that I am skeptical of social media as well. Not every byproduct of this modern day communication revolution has helped make us better.

When something so revolutionary and so hip emerges seemingly out of the blue, companies and organizations are going to do whatever they can to latch onto the bandwagon and make sure they don’t fall behind. This is definitely admirable as entities want to make sure they stay competitive and relevant. However, there is always that tendency to lose complete focus and engage in unhelpful, wasteful, and sometimes counterproductive practices.

I look around myself and I see intelligent people and smart companies shutting off their own brains and selling out to self-proclaimed social media “experts” and social media “consultant agencies” for help on their social media strategies and initiatives. First off, falling into a trap like this can be easy to do. When you have something as popular, as broad, and as boundless as SM, this definitely gives way to these types of “experts” to come in and offer a seemingly profitable and clear path to success. Many of these social media geniuses put up a good front. They like to make themselves sound like they are on the cutting edge of every single social development out there. They promise dramatically higher follower/like counts. They talk about how much time they are going to save you with their SM account software. They tell you how you will always know when someone mentions your company’s name. They will brag about how no one will ever be able to post anything negative to your wall…..and then they will drop a price for their service/strategy/convention that I would never dream of paying for.

The beauty about social media is that you shouldn’t need someone from outside your organization to come in and tell you how to connect with your followers or how to get your main marketing messages out. Rather, if you have young people working for you who are smart, passionate, and creative about BOTH your company AND social media in general, you should be well on your way.

On a daily basis I hear from groups who want to manage my workplace’s social media accounts. Um, isn’t that my job? Call me out if I am wrong but don’t you think a guy like me in my mid-twenties who has studied social media for the past four years and who eats, breathes, and sleeps maroon and silver could do a more effective job than some company in California who can’t even get the website of our department correct? But believe it or not, around the country companies are caving in and going with groups who “specialize” in social media.

What really gets me are the people (many of the same who want to run social media campaigns) who hold workshops/conventions/seminars on social media. If I accepted half of the invitations I get to these meetings, I would never see the light of day. While some of these workshops can be informative, many of them are a flat out waste of time. You will get people running them who are ego-driven, walking façades, and masters of the obvious. Sorry, but if you are going to take my time to tell me when the peak period for Facebook is or caution me against sending out the same message across various social media outlets, I might as well just better utilize my hours by counting sheep. What I have seen happen way too often with these workshops are the presenters just regurgitating the most general and basic facts of social media that even my dad knows but presenting it in a way that makes the people in the audience feel like they are actually learning something cool and new. But no matter how differently you try to tell me to “be engaging with my posts” I am still hearing the same thing everyone has known since the birth of social media.

Be creative.

That’s my advice to anyone dabbling in social media. Be wary of people who try to make something harder than what it is. Don’t let them waste your own/your employer’s time and money.

You have a brain, you have ideas, you have a vision…you also have the company or business that you work for. By doing some critical thinking and experimenting, you can come up with a strategy that will work specifically for your employer. And believe me, whatever you come up with will be 1,000x better than what some “social media agency” will tell you or what some clueless guy at some afternoon luncheon will post up during a lame powerpoint presentation. The power of social media is limitless, don’t let frauds constrain you. Don’t Blink.

The Overuse of Quotes on Social Media

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*Originally published on July 5, 2012

Social media has brought so much good to society. But as is typically the trade off with any good thing, it has also brought some bad as well. Maybe I should take a step back and rephrase this. Social media has not created as many bad things as it has annoying things. Spam, countless parody accounts, stupid applications, shameless promoting/solicitation, and scams all test the patience of anyone just trying to update themselves on the latest news via their favorite social media account. While I could do without all the previously listed things, there is one common social media annoyance that seems to bother me even a little more.

In my opinion, the posting, retweeting, and highlighting of quotes over social media has gotten a little out of control. I remember back in time you shared a quote if it had a deep personal impact on you, if it truly meant something that you felt someone else could get a little something out of. Today, it seems as if people don’t even think twice about sharing with their audience any sappy or witty remark they come across.

Now I fully understand that a reason for this oversharing of “words of wisdom” is because quotes are just so much more readily available than ever before. The internet contains millions and millions of quotes that you can read for hours with just a click of the mouse. There are tons upon tons of Twitter accounts set up that solely spit out quotes on any topic you can think of. E-mail chains with “inspirational” quotes are forwarded and forwarded until pretty much everyone on the planet has received it. But just because something is so attainable on the internet does not mean we have to re-share it with our respective social media audiences. Look at it this way: The amount of porn sites has significantly skyrocketed over the past ten years. Because of this explosion, does it mean we need to share the links on our Facebook walls and Twitter feeds? Absolutely not! And we don’t need to share quotes either.

There are a few reasons why quotes bother me so much on social media. First off, they serve as nothing more than clutter. I cringe when I am on Facebook and I check out my newsfeed and I see a big colored box with text inside it. What an eye sore. I want to see original content, I want to see pictures from someone’s weekend or a thoughtful status update that fills me in on an important development in someone’s life. I don’t want to see a crude box with some ugly font smashed into it that someone decided to share with the world. Same goes for Twitter. I follow you because I enjoy your content and am interested in what you have to say. I don’t need you to be the 56,798th person to retweet Wiz Khalifia’s relationship quote. If I wanted that advice I would subscribe to his tweets myself.

Yet another reason why I detest quotes so much is that people simply abuse them. There are people I follow on Twitter and friends who I have on Facebook who will retweet and share quote after quote after quote. It is bad enough when you clutter up your content by dropping in some generic quote but when you tweet out a string of five quotes in a row or 80% of your Facebook content is surrounded by quotation marks, you really need to reevaluate your social media goals. You devalue your social media accounts by doing this and you also chase away people from your pages who would otherwise actually look at your accounts if you didn’t post so much crap.

Finally, quotes turn me off simply because many of them are so stupid. The overly emotional, cliché, and relationship driven passages make me want to vomit. All of us have issues and concerns. Find some way to intelligently articulate them to the people who are close to you and who can be of help (or just keep them to yourself) but don’t try to express them by using some cheesy quote for all to see. Some of the quotes out there are just so corny I have no idea why people would associate themselves with them. Drawing attention to one’s problems through social media is sad, doing it with a quote is pathetic.

I know what you are thinking: “But Brent, you start each day on Twitter with a quote. You hypocrite, you.” Yes, first thing each morning I do send out a quote but it is more of a personal trademark thing for me than anything. Ever since I have had Twitter, I tweet out a short passage from my “Life’s Little Instruction” calendar for that particular day. I do it because a few people have requested that I do it because they enjoy them so much (they will text me and ask if I am dead if I don’t do it) and because it serves as a little knock on the people who do tweet out quotes as if their life depends on it. The quotes from this calendar are light-hearted and for the most part silly…they don’t speak for me in anyway and are intended to keep people happy and hopefully make others laugh. There you have it!

I urge people to value their own social media space a little more and to save the annoyance of others by toning down on the quotes just a little bit. Challenge yourself to be more original, don’t fall into the trap of enabling sap to proliferate through social media. (Enter whatever quote you have that speaks to resisting temptation right here). Don’t Blink.

The Male Side of Social Media Drama

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About seven months ago, I published a post that dealt with social media drama. In that post, I kind of specifically singled out girls as the ones who really take it to new levels and instigate most of it. However, I have to be fair. While I still maintain that women will engage in SM tactics that add fuel to the fire when it comes to relationship issues, men also contribute to cyberspace BS. They just do it in different ways.

As I have also written about before, while I am a big proponent of the power of sports message boards and the idea behind it, I am critical of the users who freely give out their “wisdom” on issues that they know very little about. I must admit that I have one more problem with message boards and similar outlets that I have not addressed before: the constant back-and-forth insult warfare between users that always seems to pop up.
Like I said, I support message boards. They provide an outlet for fans to engage in conversation and debate about their favorite teams. It is also a good way to connect with other people of similar interests and to belong to a non-conventional type of community. Additionally, for someone like me, I have an extra stake in such a service as the place that I work for is the main topic for one of these message boards. In the state of Montana, eGriz.com is the premiere and most popular online discussion forum. Although often critical of Grizzly Athletics and sometimes directly critical of the job I personally do, it helps to keep the Griz relevant and the passion flowing. It also keeps us in check. I appreciate that.
But it doesn’t matter if you visit eGriz, overthemonster.com, or TideFans.com, if you click on just about any thread, you are bound to see bickering and fighting between faceless users. Many of the people who visit and post on these sites are grown men yet a certain percentage of them will act like thirteen year old entitled brats. Profanity, name calling, and sarcasm are all “weapons” that some users will use against others. Many times, a thread that once started as a quality discussion on a certain prominent subject will turn into a pissing match between two overly opinionated dudes who are hiding behind their computers.
I mean it is easy to understand why something like this happens. Sports are a very controversial subject, one of the reasons that make them so awesome. But when something is controversial, strong opinions are going to be held. While it is fine to have a strong opinion, it is also crucial to remember not to become overly defensive about that opinion. When this happens, the common sense filter dissipates and uncensored blasts start to make it through the waves of cyberspace.
When I start to see a thread go from civil conversation to a head-to-head challenge of one’s manhood, I usually do one thing before I click out of it: I try to visualize the people participating in the feud. For instance, on one side I picture some fifty year old overweight, unemployed guy down in his basement surrounded by empty beer cans  fuming mad pounding away on his computer, ready to snap back at the latest comment directed at him. Once he submits his scathing response, the blow hard accountant a hundred miles away who is sitting in his home office angrily shrugs off his wife who needs help with the crying baby because he needs to come back with a rebuttal…pathetic, I know.
I don’t understand how guys allow themselves to participate in these public arguments. I would be completely embarrassed if I got as out of hand as some message board users do. Is the allure of anonymity that powerful? In some cases it is not even that. For sites such as eGriz and other message boards that have been around for a long time and have a more centralized fan base, people actually know one another. So while you can hide behind a computer, you can’t hide behind some username because everyone knows who you already are. Yes, what you say and how you conduct yourself will be attributed to you. How some people realize this but still continue to rattle off personal attacks and cuss words amazes me.
I know I am not offering groundbreaking advice and I know this problem is never going to go away but here are my three pieces of advice when posting on any online forum (message board, Facebook, Twitter, etc.):
1. Never personally attack someone.
2. If someone personally attacks you, offer a civil response.
3. If the person continues to attack you, just ignore them. It is not worth engaging in an argument with a moron and the chances are that the online community will police the situation for you.
As I am fond of saying, actions done and opinions expressed over social media don’t go away. While you can delete what you post, you can’t undo someone’s ability to print out your words, screen capture it, or re-print them elsewhere. Have some personal pride. As is cliché in the message board world, don’t say something behind a computer that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face. And yes, I realize that many people with way too strong opinions who post on these boards would say whatever they wrote to the other person’s face but you get my point…keep it decent.
If you don’t have self respect for your character and reputation though, please just refrain from insult wars out of respect for everyone else on the board. Again, these message boards are great for fan discussion and for the building of community. However, it only takes one person to tell someone off and for the other person to take the bait before an engaging discussion about a new recruit turns into a totally off topic mud-slinging fest.
Keep the discussion going! Just remember to respect others and respect yourself. These forums are about something bigger (such as a team, a program, a league, etc.) than Fan4Life3456’s beef with DieHardSupporter9111. Let’s not degrade a great thing. Don’t Blink.

Social Media Rapid Response = Bad Idea

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I heard it all through my childhood, drilled into my head by my parents and teachers throughout the years: Think before you speak. I think I have taken their advice to heart and I try my best to not make any ill-advised or spur of the moment statements that result strictly from passion. As I am a very quiet person by nature, when it comes to face-to-face confrontation, I am pretty good at not making regrettable comments.

However, thanks to the proliferation of social media over the recent years, the shy guy like me now has the option to spout off heat of the moment statements whenever a Facebook status update or tweet appears that I don’t like. Thankfully, because I work in a position where I deal very regularly with social media and see the good and ugly involved with it, I usually stay away from these tempting, but unforgiving, opportunities.
As a society living in the twenty-first century with social media as a very valuable tool, we need to hold ourselves accountable the exact same way we do in other social situations. Mainly, we need to refrain from typing rash comments without thinking. Now I have posted about people using social media to cause drama or to offer their lame ideologies and drawn out opinions when it comes to athletics but this is a whole different topic. Again, tonight I am specifically talking about not giving into the temptation of immediately posting whatever comes to mind.
We all know it and feel it but let me state the obvious…everyone feels a lot stronger and cooler behind a computer or an iPhone.  Ego goes up and accountability goes down. When a status, a picture, or a tweet appears on the screen that you might not agree with or appreciate, it really becomes all too hard not to say something. I mean might as well stand up for what you believe in and take on the hero role, right? Who knows, your witty comment/reply could get a whole bunch of “likes” or retweets. The problem is, when you respond with the first thought or opinion that comes to your head, you usually come off as angry, bitter, and not very smart.

Because as part of my job I manage a social media network with over 100,000 people in constant dialogue about a very passionate subject, I see people make fools out of themselves all the time.  Usually when someone makes a dumb remark, I will let the online community police it themselves and put the person in their place. After all, I am very fortunate to have a majority of classy, intelligent users who make up our audience. Only when someone makes a comment that is so off base and egregious will I step in as the administrator and set the record straight.

Even though I could call on several examples from what I do professionally, I would rather just keep it more general. When posting any comment on a social media platform, do it carefully and tactfully. If it is an issue that you are very passionate about, clearly think about what you want to say before you start typing away. Once you know exactly what you want to get across, I suggest typing out the comment on a Word document. By doing this you will protect against sending something accidentally when you don’t intend to AND protect against spelling/grammatical errors. There is nothing that makes a person look more like a dumbass than when they post something that is filled with anger and spelling mistakes.

Once you have crafted your message, sit on it a little bit before pasting it into whatever social media platform you are using. When it comes to e-mail, my boss always says to wait a full day after composing an e-mail that expresses anger/disappointment/controversy before actually sending it. Because social media issues are a little more timely as dialogue moves much faster, I suggest waiting an hour before sending out your thoughts. I know this might seem like overkill for a 160 character opinion or a Facebook status comment but in reality it is not. Remember, you are dealing with your reputation.

Just a few points:
Do delete a Facebook comment you make that is stupid. If you unfortunately post something that you should not have, or something that is inaccurate, get rid of it. Yes, you still will take heat for posting it and you do concede defeat when you take down your comment but it is better than leaving it up there for people to continue to see. Side Note: My friend Chris (another person who monitors lots of social media) and I have a tally going on the number of people who rescind their comments by deleting them after they are presented with the facts…just a small victory for us.
Don’t immediately cast judgment as live events unfold. This point usually pertains to sporting events. Many times a bang-bang play will occur that is very close and people will immediately jump to Twitter or Facebook to complain that a bad call was made, especially if they happen to be at the event in person and do not have all of the television replays at their disposal. Don’t be that guy who blasts an umpire or referee when in fact the right call was made. That is just embarrassing.
Do keep comments positive as much as possible. If you do have the need to post about something immediately, make sure it is positive. Always cast your comments and posts in an optimistic light. Do your best not to come across as bitter. Stay away from commenting on posts that already have a negative slant. Remember, split second negative responses rarely come out eloquently.
Don’t talk about a situation or topic that you know nothing about. I can’t stress this one enough. This applies not just for posting on a whim but for posting period. Stick to what you know. Never try to interpret another person’s posts either, especially if it is someone you don’t know. Again, there is no honor in volunteering your input on something you don’t have a clue about.

Keep utilizing social media for the many good things it offers. Don’t feel like you have to be the first person to comment or tweet. Remember, there is no one sitting next to you with a gun to your head forcing you to immediately post something while you sit at your computer or dabble on your iPhone. Take it easy and take it slow. Don’t Blink.