Social Media is Booming

Despite the fact that there are only two NBA teams still playing, social media is booming right now in the NBA. This time of year is exciting for NBA fans for many reasons.

First of all, one of the most classic rivalries is being renewed as the Lakers and Celtics tip off in the NBA finals. There are so many sports related blog it's hard to get a sense for what is worth reading and what isn't. Upon a brief glance at the front page of NBA.com, one of the first things I noticed was an NBA Finals Blog. It features media, interviews and other tidbits about the finals that the average blogger doesn't have direct access to. This makes it unique and in some cases more desirable than many other blogs.

Another reason why this time of year is exciting for NBA fans, is that the NBA draft is approaching. For the 28 teams who are not in the finals, it is time to think of the future of the teams. Oregonlive.com has a blog which keeps readers updated on the workouts that the Trail Blazers are hosting. This obviously reaches a specific niche - Blazer fans. However, the team is bringing in nearly 50 players for workouts and that means that there are going to be tons of fans and followers out there wondering how their favorite college or international players workouts went.

Another reason why social media in the NBA is booming is due to Web sites like draftexpress.com. It is a Web site which features in-depth analysis of hundreds of draft prospects and is updated almost daily. This time of year draftexpress is busy sharing the results of various workouts and camps for NBA hopefuls, while offering its speculation as to who will be drafted and by which team. The website's credibility has reached a point in which it sometimes breaks big NBA news or is one of the first websites to report these stories. It also features blogs and more specific feature stories or summaries of these players's careers.

The amount of social media helps keep the NBA excitement high, while letting fans know pretty much everything they could possibly want to know about the current NBA happenings.

Would the NBA and Nike really allow this to happen?

Getting people's attention is not an easy task. One of the best ways for a public relations practitioner to get someone's attention is to use an unexpected or shocking image. If done properly, an unexpected commercial can attract and retain viewers, create tons of press and make viewers actually remember the image, message or product presented.

In early April, a youtube video surfaced of NBA superstar, Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant. It started out with Kobe and his friends joking around on the roof of some sort of parking garage. He puts his new Nike "Hyperdunk" shoes on and is assuring the cameraman that he "got this!"

Next thing seen is Bryant crouching over in a jumping position. He eagerly rubs his hands together and is clearly impatiently waiting for something. Then in an instant an Aston Martin comes speeding into the screen and Bryant "jumps" over the car. Afterwards he is seen chest bumping teammate Ronny Turiaf in excitement.

Within a few days the video was all over ESPN, Sports Illustrated and pretty much every sports website in existence. If you search for "Kobe Bryant Car Jump" on google over 120,000 hits come back. There are many different videos of the same stunt of youtube. One has almost 3 million views, while others have well over 500,000. Needless to say, it quickly reached millions of viewers.

However, the video is in fact an optical illusion. After watching it in slow motion, it is easy to see that Bryant was in fact simply next to the car as it sped towards him, and he simply jumped as high as he could while the car drove to the side of him. Thanks to the camera angle it appeared that he jumped over the car.

The big topic for debate on such ESPN shows as Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn was how the NBA, the Lakers and Nike would never allow a star-athlete like Bryant to actually perform this stunt had it been real.

The shocking, unexpected nature of the viral video created an incredible amount of publicity for Bryant's new signature shoe line. The idea behind the video was rather simple, but the fact that it appeared Bryant risked his life to pull it off made it that much more memorable.