Sports Media Challenge Highlights Top Five Most Influential College Sports Blogs with the Launch of New Sports Blog Index™
CHARLOTTE, NC (PRWeb) December 11, 2006 -- Today, in conjunction with the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit, Kathleen Hessert of Sports Media Challenge announced the Sports Blog Index™, a list of the most influential fan blogs. The Sports Blog Index, which measures all sports blogs and identifies the top blogs in each sports category, aims to be a helpful tool to determine where the most passionate fans go on the Internet, the hottest issues they're talking about as well as which blogs best reach and engage targeted fans.
Sports Media Challenge's inaugural Sports Blog Index focused on college football and was measured using a combination of three criteria: influence, fan engagement and quality. These criteria combine quantitative aspects, including the number of blogs the site links to, number of fan comments, etc. as well as qualitative measurement by Sports Media Challenge analysts. A review by the SMC team allows us to score blogs based on things that computers can't like original content, humor and relevance to fans.
Fan-generated media™ is increasingly important to the sports community as more consumers turn to the Internet to share their passions, rivalries and angst regarding their favorite teams. The Sports Blog Index, which will be updated quarterly starting in 2007, offers marketers another layer of insight into the most influential fan-generated media on the Internet and will ultimately include lists of the top blogs in college basketball, the NBA, NASCAR, NFL and more.
"Sports exemplifies passion and community, and new sports blogs and fan sites created to share those passions are popping up at an unprecedented pace. It can be a challenge to know where fans can turn for the best online conversation about their favorite team or athlete," said Kathleen Hessert, CEO of Sports Media Challenge. "The Sports Blog Index will help sports fans, marketers and media know what fans care about, and ultimately the index will take some of the mystery out of the blogsphere by providing updated lists of the best places to go online to celebrate sports."
Based on the combined criteria of influence, fan engagement and overall quality, the following college football blogs received the highest score by the Sports Blog Index:
1. Deadspin- College Football, (http://www.deadspin.com)
2. Every Day Should Be Saturday (http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com)
3. Burnt Orange Nation (http://www.burntorangenation.com)
4. Mgoblog (http://mgoblog.blogspot.com)
5. Bruins Nation (http://www.bruinsnation.com)
The Sports Blog Index was developed by the same team of sports PR analysts that developed Buzz Manager™, a service to mine, monitor and analyze fan-generated media in the sports marketplace for brands such as the NBA, ESPN, NCAA Football, NFL MVP Peyton Manning, and NASCAR's Kasey Kahne. As Sports Media Challenge's flagship product, Buzz Manager continually combs the Internet with its proprietary search engine for information on the top sports issues for clients and provides comprehensive reports with quantitative analysis as well as human analysis.
On Dec. 13, 9:10-9:55 a.m., Hessert will present "Lessons from Passionate Fans" at the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit. To learn more about this event, please visit: http://www.womma.org/summit2.
About Sports Media Challenge (www.sportsmediachallenge.com)
Since 1988, Sports Media Challenge and President Kathleen Hessert have helped more than 100 leading university Athletic Departments, professional leagues, teams and world-class sports personalities protect and enhance their brands through strategic communications, consulting and training. A sampling of SMC's clients over the years include: The Universities of Texas, Notre Dame, Tennessee, NACDA, ESPN, NFL, PGA TOUR, MLB, NASCAR and NBA teams.
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