Interview with Head Football Coach Dean Paul

For this week in Social Media Principles students were tasked with interviewing an expert in a field of their interest and ask about the effects of social media in said field. 

Myself and graduating senior Alex Eblin chose to interview Ohio Northern's Head Football Coach Dean Paul. Both Eblin and I are sport management majors. We looked into the effects social media has on coaching, recruiting, and marketing through all platforms at all levels of college football and also in the perspective of ONU Football. 

Questions asked were as followed:

1. How long have you been using social media?

2. Which social media platforms do you use personally and for the program?

3. How do they benefit the program? 

4. Have you noticed any easier task such as recruiting with social media?

5. Do you look for specific post to comment or share?

6. Have you ever had any negative comments or feedback on a post and if so how did you deal with it?

7. Which platform do you find the easiest or most effective to use?

8. Where do you see the future of social media in college football?

Coach Paul spoke on his history with social media along with how he sees it progressing. He talks profusely on the development of a plan and having a strategy in everything they do on all forms of social media. He also acknowledges that social media is ever-changing and he along with the coaching staff must stay up to date on the newest tools and regulations when it comes to social media. Something that truly applies to all aspects of business and life. Social media is an ever changing domain that never stands still something that the world today is still working to stay on top of.

Connection?

Living in an era of connectivity. Social media along with other electronic advancements have made it seem like the globe is shrinking. The ability to talk to a friend spending a semester in Europe at the touch of a button baffles me. Living in this age adds a lot to society and what has become the perceived norm.

Communication is at an all time high but it takes many forms. Snapchat allows you to see people minute by minute of their life. Facebook connects friends from years and years back allowing you to stay connected in people's lives no matter the distance or time. Twitter gives hot takes and news faster than ever before. All of these factors have changed communications and connectivity and public relations for the foreseeable future. Everything is faster.

The importance put on communication on continuous level adds to already increasingly stressful situations. Teenage relationships both platonic and not have come to rely on the sense of constant communication and over analyzation on all social media platforms.

In a 2014 research survey done  it was reported that 45% of millennials reported social media had a major impact on their relationships. Advice about relationships may seem like common sense but the top advice given is.

1. Prioritize time without media: Spend time with them while being disconnected and away from the hustle and bustle of technology.

2. Check in before you post: Always communicate with your partner let them know about your sharing especially when it comes to details about you and your partner.

3. A golden rule, if you wouldn't say it or show it in person don't do it on media.

4. Don't Snoop/Trust them

Social media has its benefits and its downfalls. When properly used it gives us connections that in the past would never have been able to be made. When used poorly it adds to it adds on to an already stressful and hectic world we live it.

The Visit

The visit it has long been considered one of the most important things about a college decision. Students get the sense of campus while interacting and seeing students and faculty in everyday life at ONU. When it comes to athletic recruiting another element is added to the visit.

When prospective student-athletes visit ONU they are given the option to spend an overnight with the current athletes of their athletic team. They spend the day receiving a tour and meeting with the coaching staff. They learn about the program its goals and mission and receive the recruiting pitches from coaches some that they expect and some that they don't. Once that has concluded they are dropped off with a current player sometimes from their home state or the position they play.

The night is then the easy part of the visit. The recruiting pitches are over other than the occasional "where else are you looking?" question. Recruits are free to relax and find out if ONU is the place for them. Most nights freshman with recruits will let other freshman know and it becomes just another night of hanging out.

The most important thing to a college decision can become just being yourself. Recruits are given the opportunity to be themselves and hangout with the guys they would be hanging out with in college life for the next three to four years. The pressure of parents or coaches fall away and teenagers are allowed to be teenagers. Letting them decide whether or not ONU is a place they can see a future.

The college decision process is a difficult one for any student making the next major change in their life. Being a student-athlete adds a dimension to the college decision that most don't encounter. The decision comes down to the people you will be surrounded with for the next years of your life. Yet the true deciding factor is being yourself or better yet the ability to be yourself.

Visits at ONU will continue through much of the spring and coaches will continue to give their talks and tours but much of the decision making process will come down to teenagers being teenagers.

Social Media to Comment or Not to Comment

There is always an audience when anything posts to social media. The audience will always have an opinion. Whether or not they share the opinion is the main question. Any professional has to balance the need to respond to a comment while also weighing the thoughts of the entire audience. 

Inevitably we have all seen comment sections where things don't go as planned. The comments go on a bit too long and it turns into more of an argument or an opinionated conversation and not something constructive. Guy Kawasaki discusses a few keys to comments. 

The first he talks about is "go three rounds". The member of the audience comments, you respond, and then allow for one more response before asking them to reach out in a less open environment. Sometimes the best interactions on social media platforms are in the comments as it creates a feeling of connection with the audience of the post but allowing that conversation to go on too long can take a turn for the worse. 

Next it's okay to disagree. There will never be a time when everyone has the same opinion and that is okay. There are points in life and on social media where that must be accepted. Agreeing to disagree shows that you are open to compromising and can perturb some of the toughest commenters. There may not be a correct or incorrect answer. Allowing for an open-ended comment section works to add dialogue and show the openness of you or your organization. 

Lastly stay positive as the curator of the post with your followers watching always work to stay positive in any comment conversation. Portraying yourself as level headed wins more credibility and following than winning one dispute with a commenter.  

Comments allow for great communication when used correctly. Always take the high road especially on media as once it is posted it is there forever. 

This Blog, Social Media and Business

For those of you wondering the purpose of this blog, and why in the world Trevor is writing this blog the answer is quite simple, it's a school project. That is how it started, but even though I have only posted two items, (this being the third) I am enjoying the ability to write in both a personal, and as you will see in this post an educational perspective.

The blog is for my Social Media Principles class in which we are to write about our weekly readings coming from "The Art of Social Media" by Guy Kawasaki and take a key aspect of it and expand. This week to begin with, the first chapter was about profile creation. Being completely honest the generation growing up in this day and age is very aware of profile creation and its importance and its need to catch the attention of any potential follower, or reader, or employer or any connection it could be.

Now the second chapter however brought up a concept called "Feeding the Content Monster" and this chapter looked at explaining how to amp up the content of your page in any platform of social media and how it is needed in business endeavors to help you stick out and how it can be used to profit your business.

One of the key things talked about was the idea of "Piggybacking" and re-sharing what is already popular. This is a quite easy task that almost all forms of social media are already doing for you, on Facebook it follows who and what you follow to generate a trending topics page, on twitter there is the "for you" page in the search engine both designed to give you the user content relevant to what you already follow. Sharing that adds to your content while also expanding on your network.

The Era of the Transfer

College athletics will always be a powerful part of American culture, as it draw at the heartstrings of alums, current students, families, and relatives across the country. One thing, that seems to bring a lot of people together in a multitude of ways, respect, pride, elation, dismay, disbelief among just a few adjectives that can affect a 21 year old college student or a 80 year old alum. Almost everyone has a team and a school.

But often forgotten is that while the fan is so keenly affected by the outcomes on the field, or court. The athletes competing are still 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 years old. They are also continuing to go to class, do homework, take exams, write papers while also trying to balance practice, games, lifting, socializing, and trying to still be a regular student.

Social media has made the day and age of the athlete all that much more, student athletes at premier schools for their sport have followings the sizes of professionals and often have an equal amount of pressure to preform if not more as many times they are looking for their professional life to continue in their athletic area of expertise and skill.

As a college athlete myself, albeit at a much smaller level school, even I have felt pressures from the late years of high school to now when it comes to my performance on the field and often more importantly so my actions and perception off of it.

College athletes have a lot going on in their busy lives and have a lot to weigh in ultimately every decision they make, but there seems to be one large topic at the top of almost every social media platform that follows college athletics these days. We have entered the era of the transfer.

Most people are aware that when a student athlete chooses to attend a university and continue their athletic endeavors they sign a National Letter of Intent, now what most don't know is what has gone into that moment in their life the work they have put in the sacrifices that they along with families have made and it is unique to every student athlete as no journey is ever the same. Motivations are always different, the factors in decisions are always different, the need for a new beginning or the need to stay close to home can change every other week depending on the student athlete.

Now the rule has always been that when a student athlete chooses to transfer, they must sit out a year at their new institution and they lose one year of eligibility but then they are free to compete for their new school. Recent months have made this become increasingly easier for student athletes as the NCAA has issued a new tool called the Transfer Portal, in which a student can choose to input their name and they are basically putting it out there that they are open to being contacted by other schools about the possibilities of joining a new program.

As more and more student athletes take advantage of this tool that is now at their disposal. I watch as fan bases, reporters, and yes even coaches mock this tool and the decisions of so many student athletes, but I ask how is it different from a young business man taking an interview with a different company I ask how is it different from a young doctor talking to multiple practices about which is the best fit for his professional setting. What ever the motivations may be, and while it looks to be that most transfers are looking for the opportunity to play the athletic competition they love I ask you to think deeply and realize that each of these student athletes is a human being trying to navigate and put themselves in the best position to succeed for the next stage of their life. No different than that of you and I. Yes, your alma mater may lose a talented young athlete but keep in mind that athlete is still a college student, and the job of a college student is to grow, mature, and ultimately head out into the work force, no matter what profession it may be, in the best position to be successful.

CBS Writer Dennis Dodd wrote a phenomenal article on the social media effect as well,
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/social-media-shaming-is-helping-college-players-fight-unfair-transfer-rules-gain-eligibility/

"The Tundra"

Ohio Northern's main walking area, and center of campus "The Tundra" as it is commonly referred to in reference to the home of the beloved mascot the Polar Bears is truly living up to its name as winter leaves its mark on ONU.

Ohio Northern University is a small school of about 3,500 students in the even smaller town of Ada, Ohio. Now when a young football player is visiting in February from Michigan and the coaches touring him around refer to the barren surface made of mostly frozen dirt, he may not think much of it, but if that same young athlete lived in Florida until the age of 13 perspective might change a little. That was me.

I don't think I will ever get used to the "charm of the Midwest" as my cousin seems to refer to it often. Maybe it's because I will never get past the temperature, maybe it's because I will never get past the snow, or maybe it's just because it will never be home for me. I grew up in Tampa loving the sunshine 360 days out of the 365 days in the year, the weekend trips to Disney, and the ocean being less than a stone throw away most of the time. The Tundra however has a bit of a different feel to it as my new home than my previous ones. Ohio has some distinct qualities about it that have decided to be on full display as students return to ONU. One, tree cover is minimal thus allowing the oh so famous "Ada Winds" to carry windchills down degrees at a time with gust ever so prevalent on the Tundra. The next would be ice, Winter Storm Gia of course brought snow and a frigid reminder that winter was still upon us, but it is what it has left behind that students are still seeing across campus. As students look to be ice skating from class to class yet wearing boots instead of skates as layers of ice lace the ground, the roads, and walk paths every way you turn. Now of course the Ohio Northern staff is working feverishly to clear walks and put salt down across any patch of ice they find, but if you look across the tundra it is quite easy to see, or sometimes hear the victims of the Winter Tundra of Ohio Northern. 

Still Winter Storm Harper barres down on the little old town of Ada. Expected to drop more snow and ice on a campus already nicely covered. It looks as if the Tundra will be living up to its name for the next couple weeks as students, faculty, and staff make their way across campus.