According to Twitter the winner is...

As the Academy Awards, televised in more than 100 countries, are quickly approaching the social media buzz prior to its airing has generated numerous trending topics, the creation of live blogs, and thousands of online predictions. Twitter users have been predicting Oscar winners for the past few days and Twitter estimated approximately 476,000 tweets were gathered to make various predictions so far this year. In previous years there has always been excitement and enthusiasm prior to the Oscars, however; the hype has never been quantifiable. Through the use of social media today Twitter and Mashable launched mRank, a newly created system to measure the Oscar buzz across Twitter and Facebook.  A chart was created listing the movie titles and the amount of tweets each one received. Right now The Artist is leading for best-predicted picture with over 13,000 tweets. The only movie that comes close to the first predicted movie is Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese with 4,900.

The Academy Awards are not only using Twitter and Facebook to promote the award show, but Mashable created a live blog specifically for people that may not be able to watch the show live on television. Similarly to Super Bowl XLVI, the Oscars will not be streaming live, however; fans will have the opportunity to receive the fastest updates through Twitter and Mashable’s live blog. Not only did the Academy Awards and Mashable join together to launch a blog with updates by the minute, ABC is offering an official Oscars Back Stage iOS application for the iphone and ipad. The new application offers behind the scene footage from the Oscars including access to the control room, views from multiple different camera angles, and select interviews with the Oscar winners. In comparison to last year where the Oscars offered an all access online pass for $4.99, the iOS application will be free for all iphone and ipad users. It is apparent that the Oscars are using social media in 2012 to their greatest advantage. The Oscars preshow is asking Twitter followers to hashtag #bestdressed and #oscars during the preshow and #oscars along with the award presented during the show. 

Super Bowl scores with their use of social media

Planning to attend Super Bowl XLVI this year and do not know where to park or need a suggestion on where to eat? It won't be a problem this year because you can tweet for help! For the first time in Super Bowl history the host committee in Indianapolis is using social media to its full advantage. What is the purpose of this? It is to engage the fans of course! I think the idea is genius ultimately because there are always numerous problems that occur during game day and Super Bowl weekend that have nothing to do with the host city or NFL however, it can ruin a fans experience.

I am attending my first Super Bowl volunteering for the PR staff at the NFL and I have had the opportunity to tweet and use Facebook for help here in Indianapolis! Although I have never been to a Super Bowl before from what I have heard from other workers is that the host committee staff has never used social media to the extent in which Indianapolis is this year. In today's society and after seeing the positive feedback that the host committee has received from fans I think it is something that should be done every year by future host cities.

Here in Indianapolis if you are flying into the city you are greeted with a "Get Connected" card with information on how visitors and fans can become involved with the Twitter and Facebook chats about Super Bowl XLVI. The card contains Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare links along with a QR Code to the host committees website. The host committee has created a website created a Super Bowl event finder where fans are able to type in a location and date in order to find out events around Indianapolis they can attend. They have also created a blog area where fans can share and upload their stories from Super Bowl XLVI and there is an online question and answer service sponsored by Cha Cha. It is the most socially interactive Super Bowl that the NFL has ever seen with the first ever social media command center in downtown Indianapolis to encourage fans and visitors to use social media and share their experiences online. If you are attending this years Super Bowl and want to share your story  along with the 150,000 fans in Indianapolis the official twitter is @SuperBowl2012 and the official hashtag is #sb46. Questions can be answered 24/7 during the week leading up to and on Super Bowl Sunday. The host committee also reached out to 46 of Indiana's most influential bloggers to share the social media story of this year's new changes. "This is the first time this kind of large-scale social media monitoring has been tried at an event of this size . . . and it’s giving us a peek into the future of intelligent 1:1 marketing." (Forbes.com)

During an event as large as the Super Bowl there will be fans using social media around the world to engage with each other and share stories. However, the host committee in Indianapolis has made the experience special in the social media world. For those attending Super Bowl XLVI in Lucas Oil Stadium or even those visiting as fans that may not have tickets can still share the experience. The stadium is limited to approximately 74,000 people although there are over 150,000 people in Indianapolis for the Super Bow. This is a way to interact with all fans and not just those that are lucky enough to attend the game.

Here in Indianapolis I have only heard positive feedback about the new social media changes and I think it will be used continuously in some way or another at future Super Bowls. At an event so large like Super Bowl XLVI it is truly the only way to engage all of the fans at once in one area.

To read more about the new social media engagement read this article.