Ball State is drawing national attention after Sports Link scored to be the sole social media producer with more digital media responsibilities for March Madness.
Chris Taylor, Sports Link adviser, said the students have been doing even more for Turner Sports. Last year, it served as social media producers for March Madness Live, which provides the broadband and all of the mobile applications for the NCAA Tournament. It also is monitoring and filtering social media and creating content and trivia.
Taylor said this year, the students are snapping and featuring video clips from the tournament for the first time. By the end of the tournament, they will have featured more than 1,000 highlights.
Michael Adamson, vice president of new products at Turner Sports, said Sports Link was chosen again because it did a great job last year.
"I've been comfortable and happy with the work that Ball State is doing, so I felt comfortable adding this new tool set into the quiver this year," Adamson said. "And again, they've performed incredibly well with it."
Sports Link members Josh Blessing, who also reports for the Daily News, and Kyle Binder went to Atlanta with Taylor before staring tournament coverage to learn how to run the social media part of the March Madness Live application and how to make game highlights.
Sports Link started preparing for March Madness in February by researching and following the 119 college teams and building the March Madness Twitter application.
Sophomore telecommunications and journalism major CJ Allard is the producer of the trivia aspect of the March Madness Live app. He said he spent his Spring Break researching.
"I spent a good amount of time just finding every little fact and number that I could pull from each of the universities in the tournament and filed it into a Google document so that it's in one central location for everyone to use," Allard said.
Taylor said the students involved should feel honored and humbled that they have the opportunity to work with Turner Sports.
"Digital media and production and social media are becoming expected in job requirements," he said. "No longer are they hoping you have those skills; they are a requirement."
Allard said this could help him in his future career because he and the other students involved can put this on their r+â-¬sum+â-¬s.
It gives them an advantage to say that they worked with Turner Sports and with March Madness and played a significant role, he said. Once they are out in the job field, they will have previous experience in social media.
"I never realized how big March Madness is until I worked it," Allard said.
Junior telecommunications major Kevin Thurman said this opportunity proves Sports Link is another program that makes Ball State nationally recognizable.
"It means a lot for the university and for the Sports Link program," Thurman said. "It's helping to further Ball State's sterling reputation outside of the Indiana border and across the nation."
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