Who\u27s Trending: #NBA vs #NHL

Many professional athletes across a wide variety of sport have obtained celebrity status and as a result, have become human brands much greater than themselves (Carlson and Donavan, 2013). Previous research analyzed specific cases, individual strategies, and consumer behaviors. However, this study has furthered new knowledge by obtaining a comprehensive description of the differing approaches set in place by the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League with regard to branding of individual athletes on Twitter. The purpose of this study was to determine in which ways do different sport leagues contrast in how they brand athletes on Twitter. A cross-sectional design was employed to adequately collect data needed with a population that consisted of Twitter accounts of MLB and NBA teams. Six teams from both of leagues were sampled and obtained through stratified random sampling based on number of followers to accurately represent the greater population. Secondary quantitative data was collected and analyzed via an independent t-test. Overall, NBA accounts maintained a significantly higher degree of focus on individual athletes than the NHL on Twitter. Because of this, NBA teams maintain a greater connection between fans and players, communicate more information about players’ personal lives, and have taken advantage of their ability to become the new gatekeeper

Development and Marketing of a Repurposed Textile Product for Homeless Individuals in Northwest Arkansas

Growing concerns over waste disposal methods have led to a greater focus on recycling efforts in the textile industry. Second only to the oil industry, the textile industry continues to be one of the most wasteful among leading businesses around the world and determining ways to repurpose fashion materials could be a reasonable solution to this growing problem (Dobilaite, V., Mileriene, G., Juciene, M., & Sacevičienė, 2017). In addition to alleviating disposal issues, repurposed materials could serve the humanitarian needs of local communities, and even more importantly, could specifically benefit homeless populations. The purpose of this project was to design, execute, analyze, critique and report on the development of a sleeping bag prototype using repurposed materials created to benefit homeless populations in Northwest Arkansas. The product logo for the sleeping bag, identified by the name, “HIP”, was established to represent the slogan, “Homelessness Is Personal.” Using the design methodology established, the HIP prototype could be distributed to individuals living in homeless communities in Northwest Arkansas. By using repurposed materials for the end product, waste reduction of textile products may result. Further, engagement of the community could be accomplished by using the design methodology to establish work groups for production of the sleeping bags. Ultimately, this design methodology was designed so that distribution to other communities outside of the Northwest Arkansas region could be a foreseeable future goal of the committee. Materials collected from Goodwill in Fayetteville, Arkansas were used in creating the prototype and production was completed at the University of Arkansas Apparel Merchandising and Product Development (AMPD) design and development labs. Projections indicate that the design, development, and marketing efforts surrounding the HIP prototype are potentially conducive to the creation of a lasting and sustainable project, which might continue to creatively engage students for many years to come

The memory space: Exploring future uses of Web 2.0 and mobile internet through design interventions.

The QuVis Quantum Mechanics Visualization project aims to address challenges of quantum mechanics instruction through the development of interactive simulations for the learning and teaching of quantum mechanics. In this article, we describe evaluation of simulations focusing on two-level systems developed as part of the Institute of Physics Quantum Physics resources. Simulations are research-based and have been iteratively refined using student feedback in individual observation sessions and in-class trials. We give evidence that these simulations are helping students learn quantum mechanics concepts at both the introductory and advanced undergraduate level, and that students perceive simulations to be beneficial to their learning.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in the American Journal of Physic

International sport marketing : practical and future research implications

Purpose &ndash; Sport is a global product and service that many people around the world enjoy playing, watching and participating in. Whilst there has been an abundance of global media attention on sporting events such as the Olympics and World Football Cup, there seems to be a lack of integration between the sports marketing and international business disciplines both from a practical and also academic standpoint. This paper aims to discuss international sport marketing and why it is an important attribute of business-to-business marketing. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; The aim of the paper is to provide practical implications and research avenues for those seeking to further investigate international sport marketing as a unique area of academic research. The introduction to the paper focuses on the importance of sport to the global economy and how entrepreneurship is ingrained in many sport businesses and organizations. Next, different areas of international business management that relate to entrepreneurial sport marketing ventures are discussed in terms of future research directions and practical implications. These include how entrepreneurial sport ventures affect internationalization, branding, corporate social responsibility, tourism, regional development, marketing and action sports.Findings &ndash; The paper concludes by finding that there are numerous research avenues for future research on international sport marketing that combine different areas of marketing together with the sport marketing and international business literature. In addition, there is enormous potential for linking the sports marketing and international business literature through focusing on entrepreneurial sport ventures that occur worldwide.Research limitations/implications &ndash; The authors demonstrate the need to take an international perspective of sports marketing and business-to-business relationships.Practical implications &ndash; The paper discusses how and why sport firms interact in the international marketplace and how future competition will benefit from more sport-based business-to-business partnerships.Originality/value &ndash; The paper examines the important area of international sports marketing and how businesses that are both profit and non-profit orientated collaborate. The paper explores the concept of international sports marketing, and discusses the practical and future research implications of this exciting new field of marketing research.<br /

Helping design educators foster collaborative learning amongst design students

This paper discusses the development of online teaching resources that enable design educators to foster collaborative learning amongst students in the design disciplines. These online teaching resources will be made available through the Design Collaboration website. This website was recently set up by Northumbria University, a UK based institution, to provide an online resource for design educators wishing to develop collaborative pedagogies in design education. It currently contains case studies of collaborative student projects but lacks practical teaching resources. As a result, a research project was set up to compliment the current case studies by creating a suite of design-specific tools and resources that will help foster team management and development. Although various institutions have addressed the subject of group work and collaborative learning, there has been no online resource dedicated to the development of practical teaching tools to help design students work and learn together. This paper focuses on showcasing the range of teaching tools and resources developed through classroom-based trials. These resources have been developed specifically in consultation with Northumbria University's design educators and trialled with undergraduate and postgraduate students from different design disciplines. In addition, issues surrounding the translation of these tools into a practical, easy to use and accessible in an online format is discussed. The Icograda World Design Congress 2009 Education Conference is the ideal international platform to share these tools with the wider design education community. More importantly, we hope to grow the website by encouraging other design educators to submit case studies to the website, using it not only as a means of sharing good practice but also as a tool for reflection. The research value is two-fold (a) translating implicit knowledge of collaborative learning into a practical teaching resource and, (b) helping tutors improve their teaching practice, by linking the teaching resource to real experiences through case studies and interviews

Social Media under Social Control: Regulating Social Media and the Future of Socialization

The process of socialization for new and future journalists will look dramatically different from the process undergone by previous generations of journalists, due to economic realities and changes in the nature of news production. The rise of social media and its role in the establishment of a successful career will also affect the integration of these rising professionals into their employing organizations. These changes in the socialization process will require alterations both in the day-to-day management of these individuals and in the theoretical approaches to studying their work, particularly with regard to the impact of social media on the profession. This paper demonstrates a wide range of concerns that media managers and researchers must consider as the journalism profession incorporates these new professionals into its ranks

Building brands and fan relationships through social media : the case of the Grand Slam tennis events : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sport and Exercise at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Social media have become pervasive parts of society and modern consumer culture. However, sports scholars have noted a distinct lack of knowledge and understanding related to their use among sports properties. This thesis, through the novel use of a modified circuit of culture framework (du Gay, Hall, Jones, McKay & Negus, 1997) explores how Facebook and Twitter were utilised by the four Grand Slam tennis events (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and U.S. Open) to build their brands and relationships with fans. A unique multi-perspectival, multi-method approach involving semi-structured interviews, a content analysis of Facebook and Twitter posts, and online surveys provided rich sources of data. The findings reveal that these events are deliberately and proactively using social media. It is apparent that social media aid in two key functions: (1) a facilitator of socialisation and emotional connections, and (2) a cultivator of brand image and brand experience. Furthermore, two unique challenges were identified: (1) providing value and meeting fan expectations, and (2) organisational adaptability. Importantly, this research has significant practical and scholarly implications, providing one of the first empirical examinations into how social media assist sports event brands in brand management efforts. Social media are shown to be sites that provide opportunities for practitioners to create a quasi-virtual brand experience, representing an online substitute for the live event. This particular aspect represents a unique finding and an aspect that is of particular relevance for sports event brands. In addition, this study was one of the first to employ a multi-method approach, framed within the circuit of culture, in sports-related social media research. The use of this approach revealed the need to modify the circuit of culture with a centralised moment of “prosumption” for future social media related studies. It is proposed that this approach would be transferable to other sports contexts, advancing the research agenda of sport management scholars

Social media recruitment : communication characteristics and sought gratifications

This study examines how social media pages can be used to influence potential applicants' attraction. Based on the uses and gratifications theory, this study examines whether organizations can manipulate the communication characteristics informativeness and social presence on their social media page to positively affect organizational attractiveness. Moreover, we examine whether job applicants' sought gratifications on social media influence these effects. A 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design is used. The findings show that organizations can manipulate informativeness and social presence on their social media. The effect of manipulated informativeness on organizational attractiveness depends on the level of manipulated social presence. When social presence was high, informativeness positively affected organizational attractiveness. This positive effect was found regardless of participants' sought utilitarian gratification. Social presence had no significant main effect on organizational attractiveness. There was some evidence that the effect of social presence differed for different levels of social gratification

Attracting applicants through the organization’s social media page : signaling employer brand personality

The purpose of this study is to examine how potential applicants’ exposure to an organization’s social media page relates to their subsequent organizational attractiveness perceptions and word-of-mouth intentions. Based on signaling theory and the theory of symbolic attraction, we propose that potential applicants rely on perceived communication characteristics of the social media page (social presence and informativeness) as signals of the organization’s employer brand personality (warmth and competence), which in turn relate to organizational attractiveness and word-of-mouth. Data were gathered in a simulated job search process in which final-year students looked for an actual job posting and later visited an actual organization’s social media page. In line with our hypotheses, results show that the perceived social presence of a social media page was indirectly positively related to attractiveness and word-of-mouth through its positive association with perceived organizational warmth. Perceived informativeness was indirectly positively related to these outcomes through its positive association with perceived organizational competence. In addition, we found that social presence was also directly positively related to organizational attractiveness. These findings suggest that organizations can use social media pages to manage key recruitment outcomes by signaling their employer brand personality