Tag Archives: Social Media

Shop Talk: SEC Digital Network

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The Southeastern Conference is getting ready to launch the SEC Digital Network. They’re working with a company called XOS Digital and are touting: “…nearly 10,000 hours of original and exclusive SEC content anytime, anywhere through online video syndication, digital downloads, and exclusive live-streaming and on-demand video content.”

If I understand this correctly, this does NOT include live streaming of actual game broadcasts. Those are protected by the rights holders. Companies like ours. So what content will be available?

  • Highlights
  • Complete game replays
  • Breaking SEC news in real-time
  • Post-game interviews
  • Tailgate events
  • Behind-the-scenes pep talks
  • Press conferences

The company I work for is associated with some SEC schools: Alabama, Mississippi State and South Carolina.

Remember that saying about the farmer’s pig? We eat everything but the oink? Well, companies like ours pay lots and lots of money for the marketing rights to this big schools and we have to sell everything but the oink to recover that investment.

But you can only put so many commercials in a radio or TV broadcast; only so many logos on a big scoreboard; only so many ads in a program (as you can see, I don’t really know everything we sell).

And if God isn’t making any more land, she’s not making any more avails in a football broadcast. So everyone is looking for ways to generate more programming, more content, to support additional advertising. The SEC Digital Network would seem to be doing this.

And the fans have a nearly insatiable appetite for anything related to their team. And if the SEC does this right, with lots of fan engagement and interaction, and fully mobile… they’ll have a winner.

Bambi358 is following you

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I just did a little Twitter house cleaning, blocking about 60 followers who looked … suspect. My criteria for blocking is very scientific and includes –but is not limited to– the following:

  • Anyone who follows 500+
  • Anyone with a number in their name
  • Anyone trying to be anonymous
  • Overly cute names
  • Just about any business (unless I know you)
  • Anyone who uses the terms “SEO” or “social” in their profile bio
  • Glam shot photo icon

If I blocked you and you’d like for me to reconsider… you’re way too needy. But email me and we’ll talk.

[10 hours later] The Twitter spam is coming way too fast. I’ve blocked almost 100. Giving serious thought to protecting my account.

Radio stops with the listener

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What do you do when someone sends you a good video, a photo, or a link to an interesting news item? You share it. Maybe with a link on Facebook or Twitter; a blog if that’s your thing; or you simply email it to everyone in your address book. And some of them will do the same. It seems quite natural after 15 years of life on the net.

Now, what do you do when you hear something interesting, amusing or important on the radio? Assuming you’re not recording, your options are limited. You could call a friend, but by the time you reach them the song/interview/comedy bit is likely to be over.

All the good stuff you hear on the radio (or TV) pretty much stops when it reaches the listener. That never bothered me before because… well, where else _could_ it go after reaching me? There WAS no practical way to share it.

The web changed all that. Even the dumbest cat photo goes on and on and on.

Before hitting the record button or opening the mic, we should ask ourselves, “Can anyone link to what I am about to create?”

Exploiting expertise

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Mindy McAdams (Teaching Online Journalism) points us to a speech by David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief for Reuters News, to the Intl. Olympics Committee Press Commission (June 23, 2009).

“We in the traditional media … must concentrate our efforts on defining and developing that which really adds value.

That means understanding what really can be exclusive and what really is insightful. It means truly exploiting real expertise.

It means, to my earlier point, using all the multimedia tools available and all the smart multimedia journalists to provide a package so much stronger than any one individual strand.

It means working with the mobile phone and digital camera and social media-enabled public and not against them. Working against them would be crazy.”

The last few days playing with the iPhone, Twitter, Posterous and YouTube make his last point really hop off the page.

I think the long-term success of our news networks –of everyone’s news networks– will depend on understanding and implementing these ideas. Okay, maybe the short-term success.