Graduation

      With this being my last post for this class I felt it was fitting to talk about graduation. This post marks one of my very last school assignments EVER. Which is pretty crazy when you think about it. I remember Pre-K, 6th Grade, 9th Grade, High school graduation, and moving into Creswell like it was just yesterday. Yet now, with the blink of an eye it is all gone. With graduation, comes graduation photos and social media posts, as with any major moment in one's life, and as with all of the other moments we get to experience together through social media, I cannot wait to share these moments with all of my closest friends. These 4 years in Athens have been the best years of my life hands down, Ive grown as a human, as a student, a potential employee, and most importantly as a man. I have learned what it takes to walk alongside the most diverse group of people, how to stay up all night and still make it to class the next day (or at least sometimes), how to give my everything to the Dawgs on Saturday, and more than anything how to love the greatest place on Earth in The University of Georgia. As we venture out into new areas of life, new experiences, let us not forget of the place that made us who we are today. I look forward to sharing the moments of graduation with each and everyone through social media, and through personal experiences alike. Good luck, God Bless, and Go Dawgs.

Chasing 73

     The big question in sports right now, will the Warriors break the '95-'96 Bulls record of 72 wins. It comes down to a matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, a team that they barely beat less than a week ago. After a huge win in San Antonio (their 1st win there in 33 tries), it seems that the record is there for the taking. They have a home game, where they have been nearly flawless over the past few seasons. Check out the game tomorrow night on ESPN at 10:30. It will be Historic, win, lose, or draw. Check it out and let me know whether or not you think they will win.

March Madness 2.0

As discussed in my last Blog it is March, with March comes pollen, warmer weather, and college basketball. The time for March Madness has come and is now in full force. As we continue to push through the muck of a crazy tournament, we can begin to see the social media implications of such a large sporting event such as March Madness.

For those of you who did not read last week's blog, I spoke about the chances of there being upsets in this year's tournament and the social media implications that go along with those upsets. We looked at statistics from the 2013, a season with highly noted upsets, and how twitter was effected. Today, we will look at the social implications of this years upsets. A year that had as big, if not bigger, more suprising upsets than even the 2013 season.

Lets begin by looking at the matchup between Middle Tennessee State (15 Seed) and  Michigan State (2 Seed). This outlook should be prefaced by saying that Michigan State was one of the best teams in the country all year, with one of the best players in the country in Denzel Valentine. They had been considered by most to have been snubbed out of a one seed, and were actually picked to win the championship by 22.1% of brackets. So to say this was a Titanic of an upset is an understatement. This was one of the largest upsets of all time! But it wasn't the only upset of the weekend, 12 teams with a lower seeding beat their opponent just in the round of 32. With Baylor (5), West Virginia (3), Purdue (5), California (4), and Michigan State (2) all losing to teams that in theory had no chance of beating them. But that is what makes this time of year so fun, not knowing when and how someone will win or lose.

Though the stats are not yet out on the twitter buzz of all of the upsets this year, one can look at simple twitter reactions, and conclude that the numbers should be huge. The "crying Jordan" face covered Twitter after Michigan State's epic upset. Celebrities, basketball stars, and the Average Joe all took to twitter to share their thoughts on the game, much of which were in complete dismay.

This years tournament has been as crazy as ever, and its not close to over. Full of last second wins, epic meltdowns, and crazy upsets. This tournament has been one that will not easily be forgotten, and I'm sure that when the statistics come out that it will have huge social media implications. For know we must speculate, but with growing buzz around the tournament, and as big of upsets as ever, this years Twitter reaction numbers will be huge.

March Madness

The sports world has become a world of what ifs, assumptions, and picking winners here and there. With sports news streaming 24/7 there is never an end to the constant questions.

With that, it's that time of year again. The time where legacies are made, dreams are fulfilled, and most importantly hearts are broken. The biggest question looming is who will it be this year?Which team will be upset by a mid major school, from a mid major conference? Recent history proves that it is inevitable that at some point within the first few rounds someone will shock the world. Someone will, even if just for one day, forever etch their name in the history books.

In order to truly appreciate just what March Madness is lets take a trip down memory lane.
We will go back to 2013, where 15 seeded Florida Gulf Coast (Also a participant this year) took down the mighty Hoyas of Georgetown (2 Seed). Or 2014 where Mercer (14) shocked the world defeating Duke(3). As recent as last year (2015), 14 seeds Georgia State and UAB, both won over three seeds in Baylor and Iowa State. The list goes on, and as long as there has been a tournament, which was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there have always been upsets.

The question is how do you predict it? This year the predictions are out, with the Duke Blue Devils taking a lot of heat in their matchup against UNC-Wilmington. Baylor and Iowa State have also been listed as potential "Bracket Busters" in this years tourney. However, are these simple picks based on upsets these teams have felt the past few years? Or is this a fair assessment based on the two teams that are going to face one another in the coming days? If one thing is for sure, talent, prestige, and history do not mean anything to the gods of March Madness. Where any and every team is susceptible to an early scare or a heartbreaking loss.

Another big question that always looms when March Madness comes around, is when will a 16 seed take down a number one seed? Up until this point one seeds are 124-0 against 16 seeds, but with the madness that takes place in the tournament it is a matter of time before a 1 seed falls. This could be the year, as no team has emerged as a clear cut favorite, or even a top tier one seed as in years past. The field is more even than ever, and its time to check out the madness.

What does March Madness mean for social media? Well here are a few stats from 2013, the year where, as discussed before, Florida Gulf Coast upset Georgetown and surged to the Sweet 16, as well as La Salle's team taking their 13 seed, and a "play-in- game" and riding the momentum to the Sweet 16. When Florida Gulf Coast sealed their bid to the Sweet 16, they blew up on Twitter with 206,000 mentions, as well as 268,651 after their win over Georgetown. They even became known as #DunkCity to many on multiple social media platforms, as well as being the most googled phrase the next day. La Salle also exploded on Twitter with their upset tournament run, grabbing over 30,000 mentions in nearly no time after a win clinching a berth in the Sweet 16. As a whole, Twitter exploded in March of 2013, with 19,677,291+ mentions of 'March Madness', with 1.3 billion impressions, and their hashtag #MarchMadness added 1,257,441+ mentions and led to an impressive 2.5 impressions. Along with mentions and hashtags, the official @MarchMadness account gained 64,176 followers on March 1, 2013 and grew to 113,586 by mid-month, a 76.99% increase. Today it has over 450K followers, so imagine the footprint it will leave this year, as Social Media takes a stronger hold within the sports world.

With Social Media growing, and the March Madness season as popular as ever, this year is sure to impress. It will be gut wrenching for die hard fans, and amusing for hated rivals. Twitter will explode on a daily basis, and the more upsets that there are the more it will take off. Everyone loves a cinderella, and this year has the make up to produce one. Who will be this years Butler? Florida Gulf Coast? That is what makes this time of year so much fun: the mystery, passion, and last second games. It's checking Twitter continuously to make sure that your pick is still up on their competition, and the thought of you potentially winning your office bracket.

March Madness: is about the chance that your team will get to be apart of "The One Shining Moment."

Leo, The Oscar, and Social Media

As many of you know Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar Sunday night at the Academy Awards. In his sixth nomination Leo finally pulled it off with his performance in The Revenant, where he played a man determined to seek revenge on his betraying partner. Its been long discussed the fact that Leo should have won an Oscar by now, after all he has been apart of some of the greatest movies of his generation. He just couldn't get past that one movie every year that blew people away, and appealed more to the critics, rather than the movie goers.

With the Oscar win comes the acceptance speech, usually rushed, Leo was allowed to deliver exactly what he wanted because after all it was the moment we had all been waiting for, and Leo delivered a great speech, and even took the time to compare The Revenant to global warming. Whether or not one believes in global warming, they cannot deny that DiCaprio was flawless, absolutely classy, which he has shown in years where he didn't win as well. With a speech as fitting for the moment as his, it blew up the social media world and it wasn't long before it broke records of its own.

Leo's acceptance speech began to rack up the twitter traffic immediately. It wasn't long before everyone was talking about it on all platforms, but especially on Twitter and Facebook. The speech was so heavily discussed that it actually broke the record for most tweets per minute for an Oscar related moment. With a whopping 440,000 tweets per minute, breaking the record of the Star studded Ellen selfie from 2014 (255,000 per min.)

With that being said, I lift a huge congrats to one of my favorite actors, and to his moment to shine with the biggest award his industry has to offer. Take a look below at his speech from Sunday night.

Recruiting in Social Media

In todays social media world, nearly everyone uses some sort of social media. From youngsters, teens, adults, and even grandparents. Social media has bridges the gap of generations allowing information to be shared easily, and for communication to be done in a much easier fashion. With these times comes the game of football, where college football teams are on the hunt for the top high school talent, but also kids who can contribute to their respective university. This is where social media comes into play. Especially twitter.

Coaches have realized that every kid regularly checks their social media platforms. Its a given that it has taken over mail as a faster and easier form of communication. So as the times have changed so have the coaches. Most every big time Div. 1 coach has a twitter account, where they reach out to top targets, engage the fans, and also regulate the activity of the players that they are recruiting.

High school kids are bound to do something stupid, and most times coaches aren't going to pull a scholarship for making a mistake or two, but when they see a systematic problem in a kid, it is hard for them to take a chance on offering them a scholarship worth a ton of money. Players with pictures of underage drinking, weapons, or drug paraphernalia are likely to be under heavy scrutiny or even potentially have their offer pulled. 

Another aspect of recruiting on social media, is the presence of recruiting analyst. Or team pages where commitments are discussed and analyzed by the followers that they have. This allows fans to be involved in the recruiting process, keeping up to date with current an potential commits. With this comes the opportunity for added hype, or criticism of a recruit. Example: Jacob Eason, who has become a God to Georgia fans, after videos of his high school games surfaced on social media. Played can either be harmed or helped by the hype surrounding social media, and hopefully in the case of Eason, the fans assessment of Eason is accurate (if not an undervaluation).

With todays social media movement, it is easier for players to get noticed by college coaches, easier for them to interact with these coaches, but they can also come under heavier scrutiny and surveillance at the same time. After assessing the pros and cons of the social media among potential college recruits I believe that they would be better off keeping the majority of their affairs to themselves. Allowing them to live lives separate from their countless followers, so that the pressure does not become too much, and so that they are able to live (somewhat) as normal college aged kids.

Dude Perfect: The Perfect Job

The 1st time I saw a Dude Perfect video I thought it was really cool, guys doing trick shots with a basketball and a home camera. Then the next time I saw a video, wow, had they made strides. Not only with the tricks that they did but with the videography, followers, they had become a big deal. If there is an example of a social media success, you would be hard pressed to find one more successful than Dude perfect.

Beginning in 2008, they posted a video of basketball trick shots and within a week they had 100,000 views on youtube. Today they have over 8.5 million followers on YouTube. Nearly 16.5 million of their app games have been downloaded, as well as nearly 16.5 Facebook followers. With Instagrams popularity growing their 2.2 million is surely to grow as well. Also Cory Cotton one of the founders has written a book, Go Big, which speaks on some of the things that they have learned building a business in an age driven by social media.

Today they have grown so big that they actually are in the business of consulting and helping different companies, and even celebrities, endorse their companies and image. An example of this is, Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings player who they helped to endorse his Rookie of the Year bid, through shooting a video with him. The names are endless from athletes to musicians, or using a new product a company has released. Here are some of the companies that they work with to promote their business and products.

To say they have used social media to their advantage would be an understatement. They have built their business completely through Social Media. This is the perfect job for many guys like me, and these guys did it with a little athletic ability, a camera, and social media platforms.

Enjoy a video or two here:

http://dudeperfect.com/videos/

The Super Bowl: The QB Dilemna

On Sunday Night two of my favorite quarterbacks faced off in what would be an ugly night for offense and the two quarterbacks themselves. The old vs. the new, The Sheriff vs. Superman, Manning vs. Newton. It was all we would hear about for weeks leading up to the game, the young dynamic, african american quarterback and the old, pocket passing white guy. Their games couldn't be more different, but in reality they are more alike than people like to admit. Social Media, and ESPN did a good job of hyping up the Super Bowl platform, especially the differences in the style of play between the two quarterbacks. Peyton, 39 years old, whether or not by choice doesn't have the energy and suave to match the flamboyant playing style of Cam Newton. Cam, who runs, dives, dances, and dabs has been highly criticized for not respecting the game of football, while Peyton is revered as an ambassador of the game. The truth is both styles work, without Cam their would nothing for the old age fans to complain about, without Peyton their would be nothing for them to like. Cam attracts the younger crowds, he is flashy cool, and his trademark smile is enjoyable to watch. He loves the game of football, regardless of what anyone says, he is a competitor, hates to lose, he works hard. He is everything one could ask for in their starting quarterback.Peyton too takes a lot of criticism for not winning enough in big games. Yet he like Newton is all you could ask for in your starting quarterback. No one and I mean no one works as hard as Peyton to understand schemes and defenses and to put his team in the best position to win. He's not flashy, but he is one of the greatest of all time, if not the greatest of all time.

So these guys didn't have their best games in the Super Bowl, they both turned the ball over multiple times, both struggled to escape pressure, but they competed, they got hit, they got back up. They got knocked down, they got up again. They both simply fought their hearts out. One had to win, one had to lose. Its the game of football, you win some you lose some. This game will hopefully be the last Peyton plays, so that he can go out on top. But this is not close to the end of Cam Newton, he will be back, and I would venture to guess that he will be on the smiling side of the game more times than not.

Post win Manning endorsed Budweiser, giving them over 3 million in free advertising, it blew up on social media. People wondered why he endorsed it, they laughed about it, hash-tagged it, posted videos of it. Contrarily Newton was heavily criticized for his abrupt exit from the media interview. The video has been shared over multiple, if not every social media platform. For people to complain or defend. At the end of the day these two guys couldn't be more different when it comes to playing style, they couldn't be more different in the way that they reacted after the game ( remember one won and the other lost). But when it comes to being competitors and hating to lose they couldn't be any more similar. They both are either positively or negatively perceived on social media, both criticized, but both are winners. Both are great Quarterbacks.

'Not My Cup of Tea: Why Guys Like 'Me' Suck At Blog Posts

First things first, I write this with the knowledge that in todays world blogs are all the rave. With that I mean no disrespect to anyone who blogs on a regular bases, or for people who truly enjoy reading quality blogs. For me they are simply 'not my cup of tea'.

Born and raised a mans man, I have never found myself cooped inside for very long, especially spending time around electronics and the sort. I would have rather been outside adventuring the woods down the street or as I got older, riding around my small town finding out just how we could get in trouble 'this time'. This didn't allow for much time on social media, so I never found the love for it as many of my generation have. As the times have evolved and smart phones have become a stronghold in most everyones life, I must admit that I too have found myself with multiple social media outlets. Ones that I spend too much aimlessly scrolling through, hoping to find an interesting article or two. Mainly I spend my time scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, and while doing so I have noticed more and more people posting personal blogs, or having links to their blogs on their Instagram page.

I know that its a good thing to be published, and to have your thoughts on matters shared with the world, but for me its just 'not my cup of tea'. I often times are uninterested in someones blog about how love failed them, and that their next will be better than the last. Or that your college years have been full of stress, and that you scratched and clawed all night to squeeze every second of time into studying for a test. (Yet you had time to write some long drawn out blog at the same time.) I just wasn't born to want to express my feelings and thoughts to the world, not that there is anything wrong with it, but with that it means I and probably a lot of other guys like me don't care to read yours either. I just feel that if we spent as much time with friends that we do stuck in our phones or laptops writing our feelings via blog, we would be a lot better off as a society.

Social Media in the Outdoors

In todays social media world, every domain of life has been effected. Though most men would like to say that it hasn't, social media has taken a strong hold in the hunting and fishing industry. There are advertisers, and more prominent, people posting pictures of the game that they have taken.

As soon as kids turn 10 now they have a smart phone in their hand, I would venture to say that the average age is dropping by the minute. With this comes access to the internet and all of the social media platforms, and if there is one thing that people are good at it is posting pictures. Pictures of everything from their food, pets, selfies, and now hunting and fishing.

In the hunting and fishing world its all about the angle, the lighting, the backdrop. You have to make your kill or catch look bigger and it needs to look like you killed it in a beautiful part of the world, even if it was just in the old cotton field behind your house. If the picture doesn't portray a nice setting with a large animal or fish, the reality is the likes just won't come, and whether or not anyone will admit it, that is what everyone is looking for.

For instance here is a picture of me and a deer that I took this past season. I look like a manly man, with a big 10 point buck, a felt safari hat, and camouflage but the reality is I repositioned the deer countless times and 10-20 pictures were taken to get the right shot. You have to make it look the best that it can, after all if you don't get the likes it doesn't feel as good. It feels like a failure even though you may have taken the biggest animal of your life, you want others to be impressed.

With all of the hunting and fishing pictures being posted advertisers have picked up on the trend and have moved into the social media realms as well. Where they post pictures of hunters using their products, new products that they are going to release, and even coming up with catchy hashtags for people to use when they use their products. With this they get free advertisement, and people want to use their products, posting pictures with them and using their hashtags to get more follower's or   people that they can connect with based on interest.

Here is a picture on Instagram of a Remington advertisement, they have a new product posted that will be released soon. The product is the main focus of the picture, and the background picture shows someone using it in the field. Along with that there are hashtags that people can use concerning their products. This will help link a community of users that enjoy their products or even aspire to own them. Helping with their overall advertisement, while also keeping their costs down. 

Todays social media craze is taking the outdoor industry and world by storm. With new users everyday, and new hunters everyday. The more people hunt and the more that join social media the more this fad will grow. Whether or not it sticks, we will see. As of right now it appears that it will be around for quite sometime, linking hunters, fishers, and the companies that they enjoy using by the products and services that they provide.