Imagine this for a second: You head out in the morning to shoot some hoops at your local basketball courts and you decide to “check in” using either Gowalla or Foursquare or any of the new geolocation platforms. Boom! You’re rewarded with free tickets to an NBA game. Later in the day, you head to…
Sam Taggart
Author Archive | Sam Taggart
Does the future of sports media belong to ESPN?
For the last few decades, ESPN has been the unquestioned “Worldwide Leader in Sports.” What started as a Connecticut based, Connecticut focused, 24-hour sports network has now become more than ten popular channels across the world (including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, and ESPN Deportes) and a highly-trafficked website (ESPN.com) devoted to delivering the…
Minor League Teams and Social Media
Q: Can Minor League Teams Build Social Media Followings? Recently, Sports Networker reader Todd E. Jones wrote in with a great question. He asked, “Do you think it is possible to use social media to build or grow a fan base for a minor league sports team? A few hundred or even a couple thousand…
Tiger Woods Press Conference: Do You Believe Him?
Over the past 48 hours, the Internet has been buzzing because of the announcement of Tiger Woods’ first public appearance since his infamous November 27th accident. All of the major sports, news, and entertainment publications have written about it. Yesterday #tigershouldsay was trending on Twitter (e.g. #tigershouldsay blame it on Nike, they told me to…
LeBron is Missing a Massive Opportunity
Let me start by saying that LeBron James is doing just fine for himself. LeBron can pretty much do whatever he wants (e.g. get dunked on at his own camp and confiscate the video, walk off the court without shaking hands after losing the Eastern conference finals, back out of the Slam Dunk Competition) and…
Super Bowl XLIV Recap
Congrats to the real winners of Super Bowl XLIV: CBS. This year’s Super Bowl was reportedly the most-watched TV event ever. CBS estimates that the game was watched by 106.5 million viewers, which is 600,000 more than watched the previous record-holder, the “M*A*S*H” series finale in 1983. I’m not surprised. While the Colts and Saints…
Pay Attention to the Little Things (and People)
An amazing aspect of social media, for brands, is the ability to listen to your fans and customers. They will tell you when you do something great, but more importantly, they will tell you when you fail. The real-time web has given brands an opportunity like never before, the chance to listen and respond to…
Are Super Bowl Ads Still Worth It?
Super Bowl advertisements have long been one of the best ways to get your brand exposure and eyeballs. Take Go Daddy for example. The company, known for its racy advertising, began airing 30-second commercial spots during the Super Bowl in 2005. Since then, Go Daddy has become the largest certified domain registrar in the world,…
Social Media Report Card – Steve Nash
In November 2009, I introduced a series of articles I called ‘Social Media Report Card,’ where I graded each of the four major sports leagues – NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB – on their social media presence. I made a point of being harsh. In particular, I criticized each of the leagues for only utilizing…
What Happened to the Old Gilbert Arenas?
Update: Today, Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely and without pay from the National Basketball Association. Keep in mind that this article was published before the suspension was announced. A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about Gilbert Arenas, calling him the true pioneer of social media. Far before Shaq had 2.7 million followers…
RIP Chris Henry
“I kind of felt I dug myself out of the hole and started doing the right things.” -Chris Henry Early yesterday morning, Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receiver, Chris Henry, passed away after falling out of the bed of a pickup truck. On Wednesday, Henry was involved in a domestic dispute with his fiancée at their home,…
Well, This is Awkward. Tiger is Decade’s Top Athlete.
Three weeks ago, Tiger Woods had it all. He was the world’s best golfer, a superstar athlete with a beautiful wife and kids, millions of dollars, sound endorsements from big brands, and an untarnished image. Then, in the very early hours of Black Friday, Tiger Woods was involved in a single-car accident on his neighbor’s…