#SIDChat Transcript for March 6

Had a small but good crowd on hand for #SIDChat. It's spring break time, so there's lots going on with winter sports national championships and spring sports trips.

Good discussion this week on a variety of topics, most centering around social media. Topics included to delete or not to delete Facebook posts/comments, mentioning student-athletes' twitter handles from the department account and much more.

#SIDChat Transcript for July 6

After missing last week due to the 2011 CoSIDA Convention in Marco Island, Fla., #SIDChat returned to its weekly spot and was greeted by nearly 40 participants.

Topics discussed were creating Facebook pages for all of your school's teams, what we liked best at the CoSIDA Convention, our wish list for panels at CoSIDA and much more.

#SIDChat Transcript for June 22

Twas the #SIDChat before the CoSIDA Convention, and it was pretty laid back all through the house.

Though much quieter than the previous weeks, the moderated squeaked a lot, much more than a mouse.

Discusses were held, talking about Facebook, Twitter and more.

Banter was light, fun and insightful at times. Needless to say, #SIDChat was no bore.

Just Because It's Yours Doesn't Mean It's Private

We live in a very interesting time. Thanks to the wonders of social media, we can see, hear and know the thoughts of all our 'friends' and they can know ours as well.

Through Facebook and Twitter and whatever other social media tool out there (or will be out there), we can post our innermost thoughts, share our feelings, rant and rave about how crappy our boss or day is, and/or sickening the world with how much we're in love.

We do this all the while thinking, "It's OK. These are my thoughts and feelings. There's nothing anybody can do about it."

Or is there?

Cuban's Real Goal: Control the Media

I realize I'm a bit late on this, but hey, I've got a life and a job that keeps me hopping. Yet, I feel this topic is important enough to warrant a response.

Last week, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban went on one of his rants and asked the question: "What's the role of the sports media?" (For one, we're here to fix your grammatical errors like I just did your headline.) I'll admit I'm not a regular reader of Cuban's blog, but I hear this is a relatively short post. Still, he rambled for 1,510 words.

And I thought I could go on and on.

Thinking before tweeting: what's the fun in that?

I had been being to write about this for the past couple weeks, but well, the SID life has gotten in the way. And while the story is a two weeks old, I feel it provides an important lesson.

Paul Hagen, who covers baseball for the Daily News in Philadelphia, recently wrote a column entitled, "Careful with that new social media," in which he speaks of how people overreact on the littlest things on the Internet and fan the flames of rumors quickly and rapidly through the wonders of social media.

Oh, what tangled webs we weave when we don't think before we tweet.

Taking social media to the next level

The times, they are a-changin'.

Bob Dylan's 1963 song never seems so prophetic as it does now, especially in the world of journalism and new media.

In case you didn't hear about this, the University of Miami is trying something new this Friday at the Hurricanes' season-opening baseball game. Miami will be hosting the first-ever Social Media Day.

#SIDChat Transcript for January 5

The new year saw the return of #SIDChat, and a large crowd made it a great one.

We had 39 different people to log in at some point during the chat and up to 25 on at one time.

Topics discussed included goals for the new year, what changes to the profession might come in 2011 and much, much more.

Not interactive online? Then what's the hold up?

The sports information profession has endured a vast number of changes throughout the years. There was once a time press releases were hammered out on a typewriter, scores and stories were called in to newspapers individually and dictated and stats were done by hand.

Word processors and PCs made life a little easier in the late 1980s and 1990s as did the fax machine. And the gods smiled down on SIDs in the mid-1990s with birth of Stat Crew.

But the biggest advancement  (or headache, depending on how you look at it) to the profession has been the Internet.

Multi-tasker, thy name is Jay

It is amazing the things you do as a SID. What I find most amazing is the number of things a SID does ... at one time.

SIDs do a ton of juggling. I mean a ton.

Why I love social media, especially Twitter

If you follow me on Twitter or a friend of mine on Facebook, you know I spend some time on these social media platforms.

OK, I spend a great deal of time, especially when you consider that when I'm on my laptop I have my TweetDeck up and running the entire time. (And yes, I have switched back to TweetDeck. Might ought to update you about that but been busy. Still would like to try out HootSuite. But I digress.)

I'll be honest, I was very hesitant about signing up and joining Facebook and Twitter, especially the latter. Yet, the more time I've invested in social media, the more I see some very good benefits.

Tech Geek Update

Several posts ago, I wrote about how much of a Tech Geek I have become. (For a reminder of my geekiness, click here.) Well, I've got an update for you.

In that previous post, I spoke of my love of TweetDeck and showed the wonderful gadget with much praise for it allows you to keep up with several Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts.

But alas, I have found something new. A new toy that has won my heart over.

The dawning of the new media age

I've been waiting to write about this, but with the blog I just read on NCAA Double-A Zone, I just had to comment.

(And just a FYI, social networking sites will be a regular topic of discussion on my blog.)

This week, social networking sites continued to penetrate collegiate athletic programs. The latest "victim": The University of Georgia football team.

Here's the story from the NCAA Double-A Zone:

Two freshmen football players at the University of Georgia updated their Facebook accounts with news of injuries from that day's practice--injuries that coach Mark Richt decided to leave out of his reports to the media. The next day, reports of the injuries were circling through online message boards.

Injury reports, especially once game competition starts, are deliberately reported so as to limit the advantage an opponent may have concerning game strategy. Social networking has thrown a loop into the equation that coaches are forced to confront.

According to the Athens Banner-Herald, Richt has a blog on his Web site MarkRicht.com and a Twitter account. Perhaps embracing the new technology rather than rejecting it will be more effective in controlling the transfer of
information.

We all had to see this day coming. I'm sure the freshmen football players didn't intentionally set out to "spill the beans" of the UGA injuries. Rather, like the multitude of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace users, they just wanted to share what had happened to and/or around them during their day.

And with how many and more media outlets are getting in tune with the social networking scene, it should come as no surprise that when "nuggets" of information such as injuries on a major college football program are posted by student-athletes on Facebook that the media will somehow find it and report it. After all, when the U.S. Airways plane crashed into the Hudson River, the news was first broke on Twitter.

For better or for worse, social networking sites are here, and I believe they are here to stay. The key for those in the media relations, sports information, coaching, corporate and other such professions is learning how to embrace the new "media outlet" without allowing it to control you and your message.

I certainly do not have all the answers, but step No. 1 is getting everyone in your organization on the same page and having them follow the same set of rules and guidelines. For businesses and corporations, this can be a relatively easy process. But when it involves student-athletes - whether collegiate or high school, the situation becomes not as simple.

How I spent my summer vacation

It's funny to think about all the misconceptions about the sports information profession - or any job in the sports media realm.

When I was a sports reporter/editor at a newspaper, I cracked up every time when someone said to me, "Man, it must be great getting paid to watch sports." Like that was the only thing I did. To be honest, going to and/or watching a game was not even half of my job. Probably less than 10 percent of my time was spent at a game with the rest of my time being ate up by either writing, editing, laying out the section, developing film (yes, I had to that back in the day) and driving to and from the office, games and/or interviews.

Along the same lines of that myth is the one that SIDs have little to do during the summer. "There aren't any games going on, right???" is the argument.

While there aren't any games going on during the summer months, there is more than enough work to keep a SID busy. B-E-L-I-E-V-E M-E!!!

Summertime is used to tie up loose ends from the previous sports year (update record books, finalize stats, etc., etc.) and to gear up for the upcoming sports year (update player and coaching bios, compile the new schedules and rosters, ramp up work on the new media guides, etc., etc.). In addition to that, there are other little projects that tweaking and adding some new bells and whistles to the website.

I also tend my 'pet' projects. I have a lot of things I want to do but time does not generally allow me to work on them during the sports year (which by the way runs from mid-August through the end of May for me). And there is no way I can ever get to them all during one summer, so I aim to tackle one, sometimes two during the summer. For example, this year I compiled a Top 10 list for all the season individual records for our baseball program.

The only difference about life for a SID during the summer months is that working late is a rarity. Oh, and one does not feel as rushed to get things done summer - like you do during the sports year. Life is much more relaxed.

NOT SURE WHY, BUT THIS BUGS ME ...

I guess it's a hazard of my job, but grammatical errors bug me. Not just in stories and release, but even in social-media settings like Twitter, Facebook and the like. It kills me to see 'your' used in place of 'you're'. And you've got to love the confusion that the words 'there', 'their' and 'they're' brings.

Now, I realize that in social media one needs to be a little relaxed on spelling at times and abbreviations are used for words due to space constraints (only 140 characters allowed on Twitters and that includes spaces) and because people are in hurry and can't type tons in a short about time (I know I'd much rather type 'LOL' or 'LMBO' than say 'that was so funny, I can't stop laughing at that').

Still, the grammatical errors drive me nuts. I know I hate my typos and all, and I even edit myself when chatting online - provided I catch myself for hitting "Enter".

I guess this is in part of my love for the written word. I love to read, so much so that even after spending much of my day writing and looking at other people's writings, I enjoy picking up a good book (especially a baseball historical book, a biography or a good suspenseful, fiction thriller).

All I know is when I see a grammatical gaffe it brings out my inner professor and my desire for red ink.

Oh, and before anyone gets the notion that I believe I'm perfect in regards of being grammatically correct, let me assure that I detest finding mistakes in my work. When it comes to writing, I'm a perfectionist and my worst critic. (I have proofed this blog 10 times already and will likely proof it 10 more times before posting. LOL) But then again, who isn't their worst critic?