Mediaboss Marketing

2017 NFL Social Media Engagement Report

Seattle, Washington (PRWEB) July 27, 2017

Rival IQ, the leader in social marketing analytics and insights, today announced that professional sports teams across the globe have chosen Rival IQ to analyze social media activities, prove social media value and empower strategic, data-driven decisions around social content.

The influence of social media as a communication channel is rapidly growing for professional sports organizations. According to a sports marketing study published in the British Journal of Marketing Studies, an increasing number of professional sports leagues are relying on social media channels to market their teams, citing it as a cost-effective way to reach the largest audience possible. Empowered by social media, fans now expect an unprecedented level of access to players, coaches, and owners. Teams, leagues, and sponsors who fail to respond to activist fan movements risk major damage to tickets sales and brand equity. What is more, they expect to be part of decisions that were once made behind closed doors.

With Rival IQ, organizations in the professional sports industry have the powerful social media analytics they need to track the competition, benchmark their social marketing performance, discover trends and fresh content ideas, and stay aware of fan sentiment. Features, like boosted post detection and breakout post alerts even the playing field when competing for fan attention.

Rival IQ gives us a great, detailed view of the landscape of where our fans go to discover news and information about the Denver Broncos, and has been critical in helping us make gains in audience engagement, said Ben Hunt, director of digital marketing, Denver Broncos.

Social media has become an essential element in todays marketing mix and has proven a major communication channel for professional sports organizations to interact with their fans, said John Clark, CEO at Rival IQ. Our customers trust Rival IQ to inform them about opportunities to educate, excite, and unite their most loyal fanbase through data that informs better, more timely and relevant content.

As an example of the type of analysis Rival IQ provides professional sports organizations, the company announced results of the first ever NFL Social Media Engagement Report on the effectiveness of each teams presence on social media. Leveraging their software to analyze 135k social posts across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Rival IQ tracked the social activity for every team in the NFL across the 2016 regular season (September 8, 2016 - January 1, 2017). Additionally, this report also includes rankings of all NFL teams based on social following, audience growth, and engagement rate. Unique to this report, Rival IQ ranks NFL teams based fan loyalty, or Fair-Weather Fans, from most loyal to least loyal fans calculated by analyzing social engagement post win and losses. Rival IQ dives deep into the data to determine if a teams success on the field translates into success on social media.

Among the professional sports teams standardizing on Rival IQ in the United States and around the world are the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Club America FC, Toronto Wolfpack Rugby, and the Canadian Olympic Team. Marketing teams in professional sports seeking actionable social media analytics and competitive insights can visit the Rival IQ website and start a free trial of Rival IQ.

Contact: Danica Benson Rival IQ media(at)rivaliq(dot)com

About Rival IQ

Rival IQ helps digital marketers make more informed content decisions, better understand their audiences and improve their social media engagement using Rival IQs clear analytics and competitive intelligence insights. For more information, visit http://www.rivaliq.com, call +1.206.395.8572, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Share article on social media or email:

See more here:
Rival IQ Selected by Professional Sports Teams Globally to Inform Social Marketing Strategy - PR Web (press release)

Wochit's survey found that publishers posted 65% more social video content in Q2 2017 than during Q1; they also found people in Spanish speaking countries are engaging with social video more than those in non-Spanish speaking countries.

"Social video is now an essential part of the digital content landscape, and best practices are a moving target. By providing insights into this rapidly changing medium, we're able to provide essential information to both creators and strategists needed to succeed here and now," said co-founder and CEO of Wochit, Dror Ginzberg. "As video continues it's unbelievable upward trajectory, we're committed to being the first to see and share the industry's developments, and give our customers a distinct advantage in the complex and competitive mediascape."

Researchers also found that the 'square' aspect ratio is the most sought after for consumers.

Wochit analyzed more than 5,000 videos post to Facebook pages using the Wochit platform to come to their results.

Tags: social marketing, social video, video advertising, video content, Wochit

Read more:
Survey: More social video in the works - BizReport

Nicols Maduro's regime has cracked down on the free press.

Photo by Marcos Salgado / Shutterstock.com

Alejandro Marcano stared into the camera and read the days news to millions of Venezuelan viewers on Globovisins 24-hour network. Suddenly, the studios windows erupted in a rain of glass. Gunshots ricocheted through the room. A militant colectivo that supported the government circled the lot and threw tear gas into the building. Marcano realized he had two choices: sprint through the gunshots or die of asphyxiation.

On that terrifying morning of January 1, 2009, Marcano chose to run and barely escaped the brazen attack on the TV station. But his career as a journalist in his homeland was over; nearly four months later, Marcano left Caracas for Miami.

His story is far from unusual. As Nicols Maduros repressive regime tries to consolidate power despite rising protests, independent journalists face even more danger than the average Venezuelan. Amid government crackdowns and violent threats, more than 100 reporters have fled to Miami in recent years, according to Sonia Osorio, resident of the Association of Venezuelan Journalists Abroad (APEVEX).

Many like Marcano have now set up shop in South Florida, where they fight from abroad to keep telling the story of their countrys desperate struggle. We need to be participants of history so this doesnt happen again in another country, Marcano says in Spanish.

From the moment he seized power in 1999, Hugo Chvez faced accusations that his Bolivarian Revolution violently stifled dissent. But it wasnt until 2002 that Chvez really began to crack down on the media. As the press reported ever more critically on his governments power grab, Chvez threatened to revoke broadcasting licenses from TV and radio stations. After suppressing a coup in 2002, Chvez blamed adversarial media and launched an all-out assault on the free press.

Technically, Venezuelas 1999 constitution guarantees freedom of expression. But in 2004, Chvez pushed through a law forbidding stories that incite or promote hatred, foment citizens anxiety or alter public order, or disrespect authorities. News organizations could comply or shut their doors. Meanwhile, the government began revoking broadcast licenses and acquiring media outlets, eventually controlling 13 television networks, more than 65 radio stations, one news agency, eight newspapers, and a magazine.

After Chvez died in 2013 and his acolyte Maduro took power, violence against journalists became commonplace. Instituto de Prensa y Sociedad, a Venezuelan organization that fights for freedom of speech and the press, reports 279 journalists have been attacked for their work between March and June of this year alone. Five journalists have been killed since the Bolivarian Revolution.

Marcano lived through that bloody history firsthand. A native of Carpano, an eastern coastal city of 200,000, the TV reporter joined Globovisin, a station that had long been a critical check on the government, in 1995. But after Chvez grabbed power, the network began practicing a degree of self-censorship.

The directors started putting on lighter programming, Marcano says. They started lowering the tone.

Still, Globovisin didnt stop critiquing the regime. Thats why the colectivo attacked the station in 2009 an assault that Marcano and his colleagues were certain was authorized by Chvezs government.

Alejandro Marcano, left, now reports on Venezuela from Miami

Courtesy of Alejandro Marcano

In recent years, journalists who buck the party line can face violent backlash. Orian Brito, an online and TV reporter, was visiting Miami in January of 2012 when he found a photo of children back in Caracas armed with heavy machine guns. He discovered the children were given the weapons by colectivos, with support of the government, and published his findings in Reportero 24, an online paper. Suddenly he faced the worst week of his life.

First, a state TV network, Venezolana de Televisin, began attacking him and airing his personal information. His bank accounts, Facebook and Twitter accounts, email, and phones were all hacked. His family received threats and was interrogated about where Brito got his information and photos.

Brito decided he couldnt risk returning to Venezuela. My family told me, Dont come back,? he says in Spanish. ?Dont come, because theres no guarantees. Something happens to you, and who responds? Who cares??

Other reporters say their families became targets when the government didnt like their work. Miguel Mundo was a reporter at Las Noticias de Cojedes, a Caracas newspaper, when he began writing about ties between a group of narcotraffickers and the government. After several stories, Mundos paper was bombed with Molotov cocktails. Then, in January 2012, Mundos wife was kidnapped from a gas station, beaten, and tortured until Mundo agreed to leave the paper. A few weeks later, he and his wife hopped a late-night flight to Miami with their children and applied for asylum.

There are still many professional Venezuelan journalists that maintain the will and the disposition to keep working amid everything thats happening in Venezuela, Mundo says in Spanish. Meanwhile the regime does everything to try to violate and force the journalists that try to do an ethical job in the country.

As mass protests have shaken Venezuela this year, the reporters who remain say the threat of violence is omnipresent. Miguelangel Caballero, a freelance journalist, says all journalists there take a risk.

Your life and physical integrity are in danger before the attacks of the government, the security officials, and the paramilitaries, called collectivos, that attack and rob the professionals of the press, Caballero says in Spanish.

Jos Ral Gerere, a 21-year-old journalist, has been producing stories through social media channels while working as a salesman at a mall. Gerere says it isnt always easy to get accurate information with all the commotion of the protests.

It is complicated and difficult, but in spite of everything, one must be extremely firm in the face of constant criticism, threats, or whatever they wish to do, Gerere says in Spanish.

Back in Miami, the journalists who have left say they feel an obligation to keep reporting. APEVEX, founded by Osorio and two other colleagues in 2013, helps reporters like Brito get back on their feet when they arrive. Osorio says they have 50 official members in Miami today.

Some have found work at ex-pat publications, like Mundo, who became a reporter at El Venezolano in Orlando. But that paper recently closed, so hes looking for work in Miami.

I came here a little reluctant to work in journalism, says Mundo in Spanish. I was stressed with what had just happened.

As for Marcano, hes made a new career in Miami out of reporting on the daily crisis unfolding in Caracas on Mart Noticias, the U.S.-government funded station that broadcasts into Cuba.

On a recent Thursday at the Mart studios in Doral, Marcano stands in a dressing room in a lilac button-down, patting the sweat from his shaved head under vanity lights. The makeup artist makes casual conversation with the two interviewees getting prepped for their time on camera.

How long have you been here? he asks. Theyre both from Venezuela. In this dressing room, Miami becomes a cemetery for the lives and professions left behind.

Once in the studio, Marcano can barely stay still as he directs his crew at lightning speed. He recounts stories before the recording begins, making his guests comfortable under the glare of a dozen white lights and three cameras.

The producer counts down in his earpiece, loud enough to emanate throughout the quiet room: Three, two, one. Marcano does the sign of the cross before he begins recounting the latest protests and crackdowns in his homeland.

Bienvenidos a Venezuela en crisis, he says.

More here:
Dozens of Venezuelan Journalists Flee Censorship and Violence to Report in Miami - Miami New Times

Academy School District 20 leaders removed a "young adult" book from a middle school library in an act of censorship or diligence, depending on whom you ask.

An appeal to lift the ban on "Perfect Chemistry," by Simone Elkeles, from the library at Challenger Middle School was denied, setting a dangerous precedent, said James LaRue, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, a unit of the Chicago-based American Library Association.

"It's not as if anybody was being forced to read the book," he said. "Let's not be so afraid about what's going on in the world that we discourage our children from reading."

D-20 board members said the issue is not one of freedom of speech, but rather doing their job to not expose young students to unsuitable adult topics.

Board members unanimously agreed at a July 20 meeting to uphold a superintendent designee's ruling that the book is "not age-appropriate for a middle school audience because of pervasive descriptions of graphic sexual encounters, drug/alcohol use, violence and use of profanity."

"This book should have never made it to the shelves of a middle school," said D-20 board member Larry Borland. "This is not about censorship; it's about a school system making a reasonable policy decision that the language, sexual content and violence in the book are inappropriate for children who are 11, 12 or 13."

A book review committee of professionals and parents from Challenger unanimously disagreed and appealed the decision. The superintendent's designee, Jim Smith, assistant superintendent for administrative services, initially agreed with the committee but later reversed that decision.

The group submitted a 92-page appeal to the board. The author also wrote a letter in defense of the book.

"This is a bigger issue than just one book," Challenger Middle School librarian Gina Schaarschmidt told the board.

"Librarians are required to provide materials for all students. A middle school has a wide range of maturing levels, and we must honor all of them."

Books deemed "young adult" have stickers indicating they are for eighth-graders or students 14 and older.

A parent of a sixth-grader had complained about bad language and sexual references in "Perfect Chemistry," described as a cross between Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," the musical "West Side Story" and the movie "Grease."

The student, who was officially not old enough to obtain the book from school, had taken it and hid it from her mother, who found it under her pillow.

"Some of our students are ready for controversial content," said librarian Schaarschmidt. "They also know they should talk to their parents about the books. Different families have different sensitivities to controversial topics. Let parents choose for their own families."

The book has not been prohibited from high school libraries in D-20, the region's second-largest public school district with about 26,000 students.

The story, set in Chicago, depicts the relationship between an affluent white girl and a Hispanic boy, who wants to have sex with her as part of a gang initiation. The two become friends, talk about problems in their lives and fall in love.

The book explores how people from different backgrounds come to understand one another, exposing students to diversity issues and critical thinking, LaRue said.

"Parents don't want to confront the truth that their children are growing up," LaRue said. "By removing this book, you don't remove the problems from society - you make it harder for people trying to deal with it and find information that could help them."

D-20 board members said they find the book offensive in various ways.

"This book is one giant clich, one negative stereotype after another, constant sex, drugs and alcohol use by teenagers, which implies everyone does it, a lot of profanity, and the protagonists repeatedly make poor choices and it's OK," said board member Linda Van Matre.

Board President Glenn Strebe counted the number of times certain profane words and sexual references, such as masturbation, appear in the book. He read the list aloud, prompting a warning of caution on the online video of the meeting.

"Typically, at the American Library Association, we say you have the right to say, 'This is what I want my child to read,'" LaRue said. "What gets worrisome in the public environment is to say, 'I don't want anyone else to read this either.' That's what you do when you remove a library book."

Two other library books at Challenger also have been questioned and pulled, Schaarschmidt said, and the parent who started the action has requested an inventory of all books in the school library.

To parents who criticize bad language and sexual references in teen books, LaRue responds: "Do they watch TV? Are we saying there is no sex and no swearing in public schools? When someone writes a book, they try to make it realistic. I always say it's safer to run across a problem in a book than it is to find out about it on the streets for the very first time."

Read more:
Book banning in Academy School District 20: Censorship or diligence? - Colorado Springs Gazette

2Pac vs. Biggie. Elizabeth I. vs. Mary, Queen of Scots. The Jets vs. The Sharks.

Add to the list: Jewish American playwright David Mamet vs. Jewish American playwright Paula Vogel. There will be blood. And there will also be strongly worded New York Times quotes.

How did the grudge between these two great households, both alike in dignity and Pulitzer prizes, begin?

It was discovered recently that David Mamet, known for clipped dialogue in works like Oleana, has instituted a clause through his licensing company which prohibits theaters producing his work from sponsoring post-show talks within 2 hours of performances. The penalty? A cool $25,000 fine. In other words, theaters would have to throw around a significant amount of their operating budgets to hear questions like, How did the actors memorize all those lines?

Mamets given reasoning is that he wanted the impact of his play not to be emotionally truncated by a structured discussion between the actors and their audience. This is not a surprising sentimentin my experience David Mamets plays, which range from blundersome to scorchingly brilliant, all give off a vibe of a creepy uncle who lives to monologue to young women. But is this prohibition censorship?

Yes, according to firebrand playwright and professor Paula Vogel, who would know, since she literally wrote the play on censorship. The acclaimed Indecent, a meditation on Jewish art, history, and censorship, which was resuscitated by enthusiastic audiences after poor ticket sales threatened its shuttering, is currently running on Broadway. Vogel told the New York Times that she enjoys talk backs for her own and others plays, and that they can range from painful to Dr. Ruth dancing in the aisles. Of Mamets ban she said:

The gauntlet, it seems, has been thrown. When will Mamet and Vogel meet for a gentlemens duel? When will we be privy to a Pulitzer-worthy rap battle? Is there any chance of a dance-off, or perhaps, a one-act-off?

As we wait for Mamet to respond to Vogels diss, we issue a challenge of our own: the theater that produces a David Mamet play, throws a two-hour-and-one-minute happy hour, and then opens the floor to a raucous, drunken talkback is the theater that may save the American arts establishment from itself.

If you are a theater with a plan like this, please call us. And more importantly, invite us.

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny.

See the rest here:
'Indecent' Playwright Paula Vogel Calls David Mamet's Talkback Ban 'Censorship' - Forward