How well do you know the King of Seattle?

In honor of Felix Hernandez’s Cactus League debut today, March 7, 2013, I wanted to share my first infographic. I focused on Hernandez because he recently signed the largest pitching contract in MLB history and he plays for my favorite team, the Seattle Mariners. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!

 

Sports fans aid in crisis communication

How can sports fans aid in crisis communication via social media? To find out, I read an academic journal article this week for my public relations class. I chose the following article:

Brown, N. A., & Billings, A. C. (2013). Sports fans as crisis communicators on social media websites. Public Relations Review, 39(1), 74-81. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.09.012

News of NCAA scandals has been broken via the Internet over the past couple years. The authors research how the fans are now able to support crisis communication via social media networking – focusing their research on Twitter. For their research they used the University of Miami scandal of 2011, where Nevin Shapiro was accused of violating NCAA regulations on scholarships for 72 athletes.

Photo by RMTip21

Method

The authors used content analysis to evaluate three research questions. They used content from 75 Twitter users’ who identified as Miami Hurricane fans. The content of the users tweets from Aug. 16 to Sept. 20, 2011,  consisted of 425 tweets and was used as the authors’ final sample. The authors examined the tweets using Coombs’ nine reputation repair strategies: attack the accuser, denial, scapegoat, excuse, justification, reminder and ingratiation.

Research Question One: “In what manner do University of Miami fans utilize Twitter to communicate different reputation repair strategies?”

Results

• The three most common reputation repair strategies were ingratiation, reminder, and attack the accuser.
• Fans used ingratiation to rally “true Miami Fans.”
• The use of the #IStandWithTheU hashtag supported fans’ strategy of ingratiation.
• Many of the tweets were retweeted by other Miami fans.
• Reminder tweets addressed Miami’s history of athletics, number of athletes who became professionals and academic achievements.
• Attack the accuser tweets were largely directed towards media outlets for reporting the story. They included ESPN, CBS Sports and Yahoo!.

Various fan tweets including the #IStandWithTheU

Research Question Two: “Do Twitter user reputation repair strategies change over time?”

Results

During the five weeks analyzed, the reputation repair strategies did change.

• Week one was focused on ingratiation, reminder and attack the accuser.
• Week two continued to focus on ingratiation and reminder tweets but with less frequency than the initial week.
• Week three focused more on reminder tweets with a slight increase from week two. Ingratiation tweets were still present, too.
• Week four had the least number of tweets containing reputation repair strategies.
• The final week doubled in reputation repair strategies from week four by focusing on ingratiation, reminder and diverting. Diverting was used because Miami played Ohio State – another university facing similar NCAA accusations.

Research Question Three: “Are unique types of crisis communication strategies revealed in the tweets of Miami fans?”

Results

• The first unique strategy used was links.
• The second unique strategy used was organized hashtags.
• The final unique strategy used was diverting attention.

Limitations

• The sample size is a limitation in this case and would need to be larger for more thorough research.
• The definition of a “true” or “active” fan needs to be included for future research.
• Different scandals causing crisis communication in sports may also pose different results.
• For example, the Penn State scandal may not see the same support of fans as this Miami University case.

Conclusion

As a member of the social media generation, I find that fans will continue to aid sports organizations in crisis communication. Sports fans are an important tool in reputation repair strategies, and with social media, fans can provide sports organizations with greater support.

Professional dreams are not as far off as they seem

I have dreamt about working for the Seattle Mariners for years. I have wanted to work in professional sports for as long as I can remember. After discovering my niche of baseball, the dream to work for the Mariners came easily.

SafeCo Field Seattle, on April 21, 2012, when Philip Humber pitched a perfect game for the White Sox against the Seattle Mariners.

Through my LinkedIn network I found Jesse Manzo, a recent University of Oregon graduate and a new employee of the Seattle Mariners. Manzo also completed the Diamond Duck internship for the 2012 season, which is the same internship I completed in the 2011 season. Realizing the commonalities between Manzo and me, I knew he would have helpful insight.

Manzo’s job title is client sales and services associate at Seattle Mariners, which is an entry-level position. The business of professional sports is difficult to break into, but once you’re in you have the ability to work your way up. Manzo had no sales experience but easily adjusted to the job. He enjoys his position and feels confident about the opportunities to advance within the company.

The best advice Manzo provided me with was to access Team Work Online, where they list all available jobs in sports. Using Team Work Online I can find entry-level positions at all levels in baseball from collegiate to MLB.

You have heard it a million times, but building relationships with your professors is immensely beneficial to your career goals. A huge part of Manzo’s success was networking with his professors in sports business. It is important to gain relationships with professors because they have connections and can provide you with great recommendations.

Manzo provided me with great advice for breaking into the sports business world, whether with the Seattle Mariners or any other sports team:

• Don’t get discouraged by friends getting jobs around you.
• Wait for a job in the sports industry – it will come – don’t settle for something you don’t enjoy.
• The sooner you start looking, the better off you’ll be.
• The more experience you can get in the sports industry, the better off you’ll be.
• Use Team Work Online
• Build relationships with your professors!

Something Manzo said stuck with me, and I believe it’s a perfect way to end this  blog post: “Don’t be so eager to find a job; the job will find you. You just have to be patient; it’s all about finding the perfect match.”

Introduction

Hello, blogosphere!

My name is Lauren Van Neste, and it’s about time that I joined the world of blogging. I am a spontaneous, thrill-seeking, outdoorsy sports-enthusiast looking to make my mark on the world. I graduate from the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon on June 17, 2013. I will receive a Bachelor of Science degree in public relations with a minor in business.

I turned to blogging because I need a place to get those random thoughts and great ideas bouncing around in my mind somewhere they won’t get lost. I hope by jotting down what goes on inside my head I will learn how powerful one thought can become. My goals are to inspire others with my thoughts and write about topics that resonate with people.

I am excited to jump into the blogosphere and learn more about what blogging has to offer. I aspire to learn from other bloggers as well.

With that, I leave you with my favorite quote by Confucius, “Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.”