Introsports 2022

Main schedule

Class policies

Required materials

Field assignments

Assignments and grades

6. Social media coverage

7. Live gamer

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6. Social media coverage

Introduction

Social media have dramatically changed how sports are both covered and consumed. Teams, athletes, reporters and fans can now communicate with each other instantly in ways that would have been unimaginable as recently as 15 years ago. Because social media platforms now serve as tools to disseminate information, it is vital for you all to understand best practices for covering sports on social media. Since this is an introductory reporting class, we will focus primarily on producing in-game social media coverage on Twitter. Even though you are now producing content in real time, the tone of your coverage should remain objective just as it would for a game story or standup.

Learning objectives

Students will...

Practice social event coverage

Practice event interviews

Assignment specifics

Readings 6_1

Gisondi, Chapter 3 (Social Media: Using Twitter as a Reporting Tool) & Chapter on golf

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How to use social media in sports to keep fans engaged⁠

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DISRUPT: How Twitter changed the rules of sport journalism⁠

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NBA Twitter: A sports bar that doesn’t close, where the stars pull up a seat next to you⁠

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(

alternate link⁠

)

Quiz 6_1

Click the link below to take the quiz. The deadline to complete the quiz is 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16.

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https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVZK-vM-2tYwzEMX0qLQjhQjMcFdlTW9ufgHV-x18qsCSWxw/viewform?usp=sf_link⁠

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Activity 6_1

Find an NCAA tournament game that will be televised and watch this game. While doing so, follow the in-game Twitter coverage of two reporters who are covering the game. Write a brief summary comparing and contrasting the coverage by these two reporters and share it with your section instructor in the appropriate 06social1_ channel.

Activity 6_2

Find game in any sport and watch it. Cover it on Twitter with at least one tweet per eight minutes of game time, using the hashtag #introsports22 #social and your instructor’s twitter handle. Make sure you use all those tags so your tweets go into the 06social2_ channel for your instructor. If you can interact with a classmate covering the same game, go for it.

Classes and homework 6

Classes and homework 6

Day

Date

Time

Type

Description

Wednesday

3/16/2022

11:59 PM

Homework

Readings 6_1; quiz 6_1

Thursday

3/17/2022

Class

Social coverage 1 + interviewing

Monday

3/21/2022

11:59 PM

Homework

Activity 6_1

Tuesday

3/22/2022

Class

Social coverage 2: analytics _ news quiz 4

Wednesday

3/23/2022

11:59 PM

Homework

Activity 6_2

Thursday

3/24/2022

Class

Social coverage 3: Review and prep

No results from filter

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Activity 6_3

After the field assignment ⬇️:

Wakelet⁠

account.

Create a new collection.

Name it “[Your name]’s social field assignment tweets.”

Add whatever description you like.

Click the “apps” button on the right:

Screen Shot 2022-03-29 at 10.48.16 AM.png

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Select Tweets.

Search #theliz and your username (under Search, not under User)

Screen Shot 2022-03-29 at 10.54.06 AM.png

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Select all tweets.

Click the green “add” button below.

Double-check to make sure it captured all your tweets. If not, you’ll have to figure out another way to find and add them.

Click on the blue Share button at top right.

Screen Shot 2022-03-29 at 10.53.30 AM.png

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Change share from private to unlisted.

Screen Shot 2022-03-29 at 10.52.48 AM.png

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Copy link.

DM to your instructor.

Write a short post in the #06social3_ channel for your instructor covering the following:

Which tweets do you think capture something significant and interesting about the tournament and the round you covered? Add examples.

Which ones do you wish you could do over?

Field assignment

(NOTE: Golfers in the class will have an alternate assignment.)

The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, named for the longtime golf coach and first women’s athletic director at UGA, will be played Friday-Sunday March 25-27. Teams competing include Alabama, Arkansas, the College of Charleston, Louisville, Houston, Georgia Black, Georgia Red, Georgia Southern, Mercer, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Southern Cal, Texas, Texas A&M, and Wake Forest. This is the 50th anniversary of the tournament, as well as the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the law forbidding sex discrimination at schools and colleges.

Review the Gisondi book for particulars on covering golf. All three days of the tournament will be played as “stroke play,” meaning that players score based on the number of strokes they complete over the course of the day. In collegiate team golf, five players compete and the team counts the four lowest scores. Threesomes compete, so the top golfers from three colleges will comprise one threesome, the No. 2 golfers from the same colleges comprise the next, and so on. The team whose four top golfers have the lowest combined total score after three days wins the tournament.

You will follow groups based on which time slot you signed up for and the tournament schedule. Plan on being at the course 45 minutes before your group is scheduled to tee off so you can meet with instructors and get oriented.

Prep

You will work with colleagues to prepare a preview of each team, including key notes on team finishes and each golfer’s performance over all. Also, when you know the golfers in the group you’ll be covering, you’ll pre-write four tweets with background information you can use during the round you cover.

During the round

You’ll follow your group through the 18 holes of their round. You should post at least 20 tweets, including your background info tweets, score updates, and context about the round and the day as you go. Only tweets using the hashtags “#theliz #introsports22” and tagging their owners’ twitter will be evaluated for this assignment.

Post-round

Interview one of the golfers from your group on-camera and post the best 30 seconds from the interview in a tweet.

Follow-up

By 11:59pm on the night of your round, post a show graphic to the @bysportmediauga account with a key stat for a key golfer you followed.

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