Social Media Takes Flight During March Madness

NCAA pre-tournament social media analytics from leading international social intelligence firm Talkwalker.

March Madness Buzzing with More Than a Half Million Social Media Mentions

Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia are Social Media’s Favorite


#1  KANSAS

#2  NORTH CAROLINA

#3  VIRGINIA

#4  OKLAHOMA

#5  SYRACUSE

#6  UCLA

#7  VILLANOVA

#8  XAVIER

#9  DUKE

#10  CINICINNATI

March Madness is just underway with the First Four games in Dayton, but social media has been in a tournament frenzy since Sunday when the brackets were revealed.  More than 557,000 mentions of March Madness, NCAA Tournament or related terms have been recorded across all social media in the past week, according to international social media analytics firm Talkwalker.

Mentions of March Madness have spiked up nearly 300% over the last 48 hours as the tournament teams were finalized on Selection Sunday. The biggest peak came between 6-7pm ET during the CBS live selection show with more than 73,000 social posts in that one hour referencing the tournamen.

The hashtag #MarchMadness has already been used more than 183K times over the last 7 days. The other major hashtag being used in the buildup was #SelectionSunday which has been used nearly 96K times over the last 7 days. This Bleacher Report Instagram post is the tops among all mentions of March Madness, revealing the four top seeds and garnering nearly 200,000 likes. https://www.instagram.com/p/BgMy9ZLAeS/

This top-trending Tweet from BarStool Sports broadcaster Dan Katz summed up many fans’ feelings about the way the bracket was revealed – in alphabetical order instead of by region and seed.  https://twitter.com/BarstoolBigCat/status/972957624957317122

But who is going to win? Only two of the four top seeds are among social media posters favorites to win the tournament.  According to Talkwalker, the early leaders out of the gate for most mentions are: One-seed Kansas with 20.1K mentions since Sunday, Two-seed North Carolina with 17.5K and One-seed Virginia with 16.8K.

Oklahoma is the fourth most mentioned team with 16.1K posts, but not for a reason that Sooners fans would like – most mentions are because of the feeling that OU maybe should have been left out of the tournament this year.  Syracuse also garnered many mentions (11.8K) for the same reason as did UCLA (12.2K).

The other two top seeds the tournament came in fifth (Villanova with 14.9K) and 11th (Xavier with 11.3K).  Among the other second-seeded teams, Duke was sixth overall in mentions with 14.3K, while Cincinnati with 11.2K and Purdue with 6.1K finished out of the top 10.

Among brands trending is perennial March Madness sponsor Pizza Hut, with this Instagram post featuring its “Pie Tops” which attracted 6,400 likes.  https://www.instagram.com/p/BgEsChNg1kK/

Have fun this March Madness.

Record Breaking Final Four

A good read on how Arlington... err North Texas did...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/ncaa-tournament/the-game/20140406-despite-national-media-complaints-north-texas-delivers-record-breaking-final-four.ece

North Dakota "Fighting Sioux" May Be No More

What the NCAA and voters want-- they get.

Voters in North Dakota on Tuesday overwhelmingly endorsed a proposal to abolish the state university's "Fighting Sioux" nickname and Indian head logo, banned under a national college sports policy that deems such symbols as racially offensive.

More than 67 percent of voters supported the move that will allow the University of North Dakota to end its use of the nickname and logo - based on a Native American caricature - in order to avoid possible sanctions by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

However, supporters of the symbol have said they will continue their fight to retain the "Fighting Sioux" name and logo after years of appealing to alumni and to the state Legislature, which just last year passed a law to keep the images, only to then reverse itself with a repeal.

The university's alumni association and foundation had stayed neutral on the topic for decades, but in early February stepped in to support retiring the nickname and logo, spending $250,000 on the issue.

"The issue wasn't preference. If that were the case than clearly the name would be staying," said Tim O'Keefe, executive vice president and CEO of the alumni association and foundation. "It was about the significant price the University of North Dakota athletic program would pay under NCAA sanctions."

The NCAA, which governs college sports, adopted a policy in 2005 to bar images considered offensive by some Native American groups, but allows schools to use them if they gain approval from namesake groups.

It bars schools that don't from hosting championship events or wearing uniforms with the images during NCAA playoffs.

My Appearance on "The Linkedin Lady Show" 5/15/12

I was happy to join Carol McManus on Tuesday 5/15/12 on "The Linkedin Lady Show"

We talked about the Facebook IPO, sports in social media and what to look for in technology and social media at the Summer Olympics this summer in London.

Have a listen here:  It's the show on 5/15/12

http://rockstarradionetwork.com/shows/thelinkedinladyshow

2012 Final Four Refs Selected

The officials working the NCAA semi-final games along with the Championship game have been selected.  It is not known who will work each game, orwho will be the alternate officials, but we do know the refs come from all over the country and the selections mainly come from the major conferences.

Here's the list:

Pat Adams: SEC and SWAC

Roger Ayers: Big East, ACC, SEC

Joe Derosa: Big XII

Tommy Eades: SEC

Verne Harris: MVC, WAC

Les Jones: ACC, Big East

Jamie Luckie: ACC, Big East

Doug Shows: SEC, Big East

Mike Stuart: Big East, Big XII

Mark Whitehead: Big XII and MVC

Some Notes:

Joe Derosa is a former NBA official, Pat Adams has worked 3 Kentucky games throughout the season, and Mike Stuart has worked 3 Louisville games.  Luckie worked the Iowa St/Kentucky game in the round of 32 and Jones called the Sunday game between Kentucky and Baylor.

Joe Derosa