Archives for November 2011

Give Mojo Introduces Trash Talk Sports Social Media Game

Passion is what sports is all about. Just ask radio host Jim Rome. And that’s what Give Mojo drives at with a new college football sports social media application that allows fans to select a game they want to participate in, and then let loose with competitive commentary.

Called Give Mojo, the game has some interesting twists. After signing up with Facebook or Twitter, the interface allows you to select a specific college football game. When you do, you are placed into a “smack stream.” where you participate in ongoing banter with others in the stream. Comments are virtually identical to Twitter posts, except a favorite comment is a Hi-5 and a retweeted comment is a resmack.

Fans earn points for themselves and their favorite college football team by posting comments on behalf of their team, sharing smack on Facebook and Twitter or buying points through Give Mojo.

Give Mojo is co-founded by Karl Meinhardt, who is best known for developing an e-commerce website for grocery store chain Albertsons. Give Mojo plans to extend its sports social media platform into other arenas, including politics.

Give Mojo is optimized for mobile web browsers, but not distributed as an application. It works with IE9, or the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

 

Monday’s Tech Tidbits: Motorola Edition

Motorola goes Xoom Xoom
Motorola has added two Xoom models to its tablet offerings. Both Xoom 2 models run Google’s Honeycomb 3.2 version of the Android operating system that is designed for tablets. The Xoom 2 features a 8.2-inch display and the Xoom 2 Media Edition comes with a 10.1 inch display and runs on a 1.2GHz processor and includes 1GB RAM and 16GB of storage. They are now only available in the United Kingdom and Ireland with no announced U.S. release date.

Smartphone adoption in US approaching 50%
According to the latest mobile user survey from Nielsen only 43% of all U.S. mobile phone users have a smartphone, but the figure graphs higher with most younger age groups. While the 12-17 and 45-54 segments only have a 40% smartphone average, 62% of the 25-34 age group and 54% of both the 18-24 and the 35-44 age groups use a smartphone. The Android OS is the most popular with 43% of the market followed by Apple’s iOS with 28%.

New Motorola Tablet prototype outed.
Multiple sources are reported what they claim are the features for the pending Motorola Corvair, a 6-inch tablet that will be running the Android 2.3 operating system. What sets this device apart is that it is designed to work with a television, both as a remote control device but also use the TV as a display to mirror what is on the tablet’s screen. It is expected to be a low cost device the question will be will Motorola sell it on the retail market or work with cable companies to get it into users’ hands?

Apple losing patent fights with Google, Samsung?
A German court has dealt a blow to Apple, ruling that it has violated a pair of Motorola Mobility patents and forbidding Apple from selling any mobile device in the country. The ruling, by the Mannheim Regional Court prevents Apple from selling its popular iPad and iPhone products in Europe’s largest market.. Apple is suing three major Android developers, Samsung, HTC and Motorola and they in turn have launched legal counter attacks against Apple.


US Cellular to iPhone-No Thanks!

US Cellular said that turned down the opportunity to carry Apple’s popular iPhone but decided not to because it is too expensive, the company said. The sixth-largest U.S. cellphone company said that the terms were unacceptable from a risk and profitability standpoint. While Apple charges customers $199 for the entry level iPhone 4S, it charges phone companies $600. The companies are expected to make up the difference on service contracts.
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/11/07/mobile_internet_sales_to_hit_record_15_per_cent_of_total/

Mobile Devices impacting online sales
It is estimated that a full 15% of all web purchases will be made from devices that run either the Apple iOS or the Google Android operating system. According to research from IBM the two operating systems impact is three times what it was a year ago in terms of being the platforms used to make purchases. The two represented 11% of the market in October and the estimate is for the holiday season in the U.S. market.

Verizon: MNF a ‘Big Draw’ for NFL Mobile App

The ability to watch Monday Night Football on your phone — like tonight’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears — has drawn a lot of new fans to Verizon Wireless’s NFL Mobile app, according to a company executive in charge of the service.

“The NFL Mobile app is very popular, and we continue to see growth [in user numbers],” said Mitch Dornich, Verizon Wireless marketing director for entertainment and sponsorships, in a phone interview. Though Dornich would not disclose updated subscriber numbers, last year Verizon reportedly had at least 4.5 million of its wireless customers using the NFL Mobile app — a number that has almost certainly grown thanks to the addition of live Monday Night Football games to the app’s premium-service tier this season.

“Last year, we had Thursday night games, Sunday night games, the NFL Network shows and the RedZone,” said Dornich. “This year we added Monday Night Football and it’s been a big lift. RedZone as a companion device during other broadcasts and Monday Night Football seem to be our biggest draws.”

Audio Broadcasts Also Popular

Though Verizon’s promotions of the NFL Mobile app center around live video and the company’s new, fast 4G LTE network, it is good old audio broadcasts that account for another big chunk of NFL Mobile use.

“Audio consumption is very high, probably because it’s the perfect companion if you’re doing something like driving, where you can’t watch the screen,” Dornich said. With both home and away audio broadcast choices NFL Mobile can satisfy fans of either side of any NFL contest, and couples the live audio with instantly updated text play-by-play.

According to Dornich, many Verizon wireless customers may start out with the basic free version of the NFL Mobile app, which supports features like the audio broadcasts and play-by-play, and then upgrade to the premium version after getting a taste of the video choices available. Verizon added some video-on-demand features, like in-game highlights, to the basic package this season and Dornich guessed the appetizer has enticed many fans to upgrade for the full meal deal.

For Verizon customers with 3G phones that support video (like the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 4s) the premium NFL Mobile package requires a $10 per month “Verizon Video” fee in addition to any other data plan.

“This year we put the VOD into the basic package so people could see the value,” Dornich said. Verizon is also waiving the $10 monthly fee for the rest of the 2011-12 season for customers who purchase 4G LTE phones. In and of itself, the NFL Mobile app is a bit of a promotional tool for the 4G LTE network, Dornich said.

“It’s really good for us, because [the NFL Mobile app] helps us differentiate our network from the competition,” Dornich said. “It shows customers what the network is capable of.”

Technical Challenges: Getting Good Video to Handsets

One of the biggest challenges for Verizon is optimizing the video streams to the many different handsets that are supported, which include Android smartphones as well as a long list of BlackBerry devices. “It’s not just about delivering the highest bit rate, since you may deliver something that a handset processor could choke on,” Dornich said. “The challenge for us is how to optimize the stream, so it’s right-sized for a particular handset.”

Though the NFL Mobile app is not yet supported on what is fast becoming the couch potato’s favorite companion device — the Apple iPad and its tablet imitators — Dornich said to “stay tuned” for news about iPad and NFL Mobile.

Verizon also takes care to alert potential NFL Mobile heavy users that watching a lot of video on your phone may be hazardous to the health of your monthly data plan. “We are always pretty clear up front that high usage [of NFL Mobile video] may impact your data plan,” Dornich said. One way fans can keep data consumption under control is to seek out Wi-Fi hotspots when they know they are going to watch a lot of video, Dornich said.

Verizon Wireless, which also has mobile apps for fans of the National Hockey League and IndyCar auto racing, said it is happy with the results of its $720 million deal with the NFL, which gives Verizon exclusive rights to cellphone viewing (though fans with other paid packages, like DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket or the Slingbox can also watch their services via a mobile connection).

“We’re very happy with the agreement,” Dornich said. “Our expectations have been validated.”

No One Lies About Nittany Lions: Penn State Emerging As Sports Social Media Case Study

The title of Jerry Sandusky's book, "Touched," retweeted by sports social media community

It may not be O.J. Simpson hiding in the back seat of a slow-moving, white Ford Bronco on Los Angeles freeways, but it may as well be.

News that former Penn State college football coach Jerry Sandusky has been charged with 21 felony counts of abusing boys between 1994 and 2009, and that Penn State athletics director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz allegedly perjured themselves before a grand jury is the most far-reaching, negative news story to emerge during the era of the 360-degree sports viewing experience.

How Penn State moves to heal its following through sports social media communication, the figures who emerge as the most effective communicators and which sports content providers provide the best outlets for audience interaction will be important milestones in the development of best practices in sports social media.

On Nov. 7, Penn State was still a breaking news story. And, because of sports social media and the seriousness of the allegations, the story is breaking fast, loud and profane. Here’s what is happening right now:

Deadspin aggressively advances story, mainstream media largely a no show

True to form, Deadspin had the edgiest story among the major media outlets when the sports feature news cycle began on Nov. 7.

Here’s a Deadspin-centric tweet:

Good God. No words. “As Recently As 2009, Jerry Sandusky Was Running An Overnight Football Camp For Kids @ Penn State” http://t.co/iBYvZOvm

@asonnenb

Aaron Sonnenberg

Columnist Jason Whitlock continues to step up as a mainstream media guy comfortable with sports social media. On Nov. 7, he took his strongest stance so far:

Institutions/corporations valued over human life. JoePa must go! http://t.co/ZiU6yKCK My column today is why #realmenchooseFOXSports

@WhitlockJason

Jason Whitlock

The Penn State story is proving a prove a boon for independent sports blogs.

TheBigLead, which was founded in 2006 and acquired by Fantasy Sports Ventures in 2010, has been knocking on the story hard while the big boys have tried to make sense of it.

A Nov. 7  story that posted at 10 a.m. titled “Joe Paterno Should Resign” generated 356 responses,  131 likes and 177 tweets in its first four hours.

Here’s TheBigLead’s strongest tweet on the morning of Nov. 7:

Disturbing RT @: Sandusky worked out in Penn State weight room multiple times last week http://t.co/XoEgRCwD

@TheBigLead

Jason McIntyre

ESPN gun shy after > Tebow?

TheBigLead was enjoying good interaction, especially in contrast to ESPN. ESPN’s Penn State lead story on the morning of Nov. 7 was a SportsCenter video. Comments were not allowed. That may be a critical misstep step by the sports network. ESPN is currently the subject of an out-of-control comment string related to Tim Tebow, according to an earlier article in MobileSportsReport. If ESPN opted out of publishing commentary-based journalism about Penn State on the morning of Nov. 7 because it was still gun shy over the Tebow incident, it lost out on an opportunity to provide a forum for anxious legions of fans to speak out.

Yahoo! scores early, then disappears

In contrast to TheBigLead’s interaction, Yahoo! Sports’  failed to capitalize on an early advantage it established in the Sandusky story. On Nov. 5, Yahoo Sports sportswriter Dan Wetzel’s “Penn State’s insufficient action amid child sex allegations stunning”  broke the facts central to the story. Wetzel wrote:

“At approximately 9:30 p.m. on March 1, 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant entered what should have been an empty football locker room. He was surprised to hear the showers running and noises he thought sounded like sexual activity, according to a Pennsylvania grand jury “finding of fact” released Saturday.

When he looked in the shower he saw what he estimated to be a 10-year-old boy, hands pressed up against the wall, “being subjected to anal intercourse,” by Jerry Sandusky, then 58 and Penn State’s former defensive coordinator. The grad assistant said both the boy and the coach saw him before he fled to his office where, distraught and stunned, the grad assistant telephoned his father, who instructed his son to flee the building.

The next day, a Saturday, the grad assistant went to the home of head coach Joe Paterno and told him what he had seen. The day after that, Paterno called Penn State athletic director Tim Curley to his home to report that the grad assistant had told him he had witnessed “Jerry Sandusky in the Lasch Building showers fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy.”

A week-and-a-half later, according to the grand jury report, the grad assistant was called to a meeting with Curley and Gary Schultz, the school’s senior vice president for finance and business, where he retold his story.

…Curley did not notify university police or have the graduate assistant further questioned involving the incident. No other legal or university entity investigated the case.

Despite telling the facts of the case first, Yahoo Sports failed to capitalize as the story developed. Its lead story on the morning of Nov. 7 was posted 14 hours earlier, and titled “Paterno statement in abuse case raises more questions.”  The story had 1,000 likes but only 143 tweets, fewer than TheBigLead.

The key reason Yahoo dropped the ball may be fantasy sports. Yahoo has the largest audience and the largest revenue base for fantasy sports among digital sports content providers. Operationally, Yahoo moves from primarily a sports media outlet Monday-through-Friday to an information service company over the weekend. That may be the reason Yahoo ceded its status as news leader, at least temporarily, on Monday morning.

Public advances story with fact and observation

Twitter proved to be a better place than most websites to see facts that advance the story on the morning of Nov. 7.

These three tweets might seem trivial, but you can be pretty sure both of these facts will turn up in Sports Illustrated or similar in-depth magazine articles in the coming week:

The Penn State Creamery has pulled the “Sandusky Blitz” ice cream flavor from its list.

@phiala

Sarah Goslee

In Hindsight, “Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story” Was an Unfortunate Book Title http://t.co/Lx2AQUc3

@Jknoeppel

John Knoeppel

Jerry Sandusky is married & has six kids; five boys & a girl… he’s one sick joker!!!

@AngryBlkManDC

Mr. ManSitChoAzzDown

Penn State takes solid approach

Penn State displays best practices in public relations on its live Twitter feed, providing tweets about official news related to the case. Early on Nov. 7, it moved its latest update:

From last night, Curley and Schultz step down: http://t.co/giaGIDwq ; Paterno issues statement: http://t.co/C7PLNHrN

@penn_state

Penn State

Arrington gets attention

Former Penn State great LaVar Arrington is one of the leaders in getting attention through Penn State on Twitter:

I am ashamed of the possible actions of what would seem to be very irresponsible men! Not my school Penn State did not do this

@LaVarArrington

LaVar Leap Arrington

Arrington, a former No. 1 National Football League draft pick who was coached by Sandusky at linebacker U, is a radio host and sells T-shirts through his Arrington Entertainment brand. His Twitter posts are more inflammatory than a neutral blog post he wrote on the subject on the Washington Post.

The people speak

Comments on Twitter were running about one per minute on Twitter on Monday morning, and the average Twitter person delivered strong commentary:

The town of Sandusky, Ohio just changed their name to Hitler, Ohio. Less bad press.

@TuckerMax

Tucker Max

It’s been more than 24 hours since Joe Pa released his pathetic statement. Disgraceful that Penn State hasn’t fired him yet.

@JimmyTraina

Jimmy Traina

Interestingly, some of the earliest tweets were among the most profane:

Just read the Penn State article. Joe Paterno, you’re a selfish prick. Fuck you and your program. (via @) bit.ly/uMttZ4

@DCSportsFTW

Michael Callow


 

 

 

 

 

 

CBS: 214,560 Online Viewers for LSU-Bama Sets New Record

Turns out we weren’t the only ones sampling CBS Sports’ free online broadcast of the LSU-Alabama game Saturday night: According to the network, the No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown attracted what it believes to be the biggest-ever online audience for a college football game, with a total of 214,560 unique viewers through both website and mobile-device application interaction.

“CBSSports.com continues to set the pace in terms of streaming major sports event on multiple platforms,” said Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBSSports.com, in a press release Sunday. “Extending the audience by nearly a quarter of a million viewers during primetime on a Saturday night is quite an accomplishment and the perfect compliment to the CBS Sports broadcast.”

According to CBS, there were 171,648 viewers who watched the game via the CBSSports.com website, and another 42,912 viewers who viewed the game via CBS Sports mobile using an app for Apple iOS devices (either an iPad, an iPhone or an iPod Touch). According to CBS, “this number of unique viewers for the LSU/Alabama game is believed to be the largest audience ever to watch a football game through digital platforms.” Though Mobile Sports Report can’t immediately confirm that claim it’s more than likely true given the limited number of big-time events ever being available for free online.

Though Saturday’s event isn’t close to being the biggest online experience for CBS — according to the press release CBS hosted 1,153,981 online viewers of an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game in 2010 (a first-round game between BYU and Florida) — it also helped prove that online viewers don’t necessarily take away from a regular-broadcast audience, since the TV part of the broadcast earned the network’s second-highest rating since September of 1987. According to CBS the game had an 11.9/21 Nielsen rating.

And while the game might not have lived up to its No. 1 vs. No. 2 hype the expected online audience certainly did, and should mean that we may see more such events toward the end of the year and into college bowl season. Bookmark Mobile Sports Report to stay informed about any future online NCAA football broadcasts.

CBS Live ‘Chat’ With Danielson — Pretty Cool

His voice is shot from calling color on the LSU-Alabama tilt, but I have to give CBS and Gary Danielson credit for the cool “Fifth Quarter” chat following the game. I didn’t quite understand the format beforehand but having Gary camping out in the CBS motohome (with a Diet Coke) answering questions live (being read to him by some other guy off a laptop) works pretty well — would love to see Herby and Corso do this on Gameday.

What also worked was CBS’s decision to use a “quick login” on its chat tool, meaning that I didn’t have to give up my Twitter sign-in info to CBS. I was able to just log in and ask a question and hey! They even asked Gary my question and we won’t even dis them for calling us “mobEEL sports report,” like we are from Alabama or something:

I was giving Danielson some grief on Twitter during the game but I have to say that after watching and listening I can see why he is the No. 1 analyst on CBS (too bad Fox doesn’t have someone his equal to sit beside Joe Buck on baseball). Gary answered my question by saying he didn’t think Bama was tight, but that it does need an elite receiver to compete with the big boys. Fair enough.

Like its Internet broadcast of the game, CBS’s production of the chat is over the top good, with the loud air conditioner noise behind Gary D giving it a bit of that raw edge. Think this is a great model for future online video chats… I am thinking here in a sports bar or some guys like Wilbon, Greg Couch and Jim Rome on a couch with some adult beverages… I’d watch!