Auburn's athletic department is keeping up with fans across the country by utilizing social networking Web sites. Sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook have become a new and easy way for fans to receive the latest information about their favorite teams.
Twitter is a way for the football department to keep in touch with fans. The football team has their own Twitter account, FootballAU, that it use to countdown until kick off, post articles published in newspapers all over the country about the team and update fans on the team's hard work.
There are also unofficial Auburn athletic Twitter accounts, created by fans, which are a great way to be informed about what all of Auburn's teams are doing. These Twitter user's post about upcoming events, ticket purchasing information, schedule updates and season recaps.
For fans already on Twitter, simply "following" the Auburn athletic teams is an easy way to stay in touch.
"I graduated from Auburn a couple of years ago and live in Atlanta, so I like to stay on top of any information about football games and Auburn events so that I can plan to come in town," said Evyan Mischke, an Auburn alumni. "I already have a Twitter for work and personal use, so it makes it much easier to just follow the sports team's accounts. It helps me keep up with everything going on in Auburn."
Facebook is also a popular way for fans to keep in touch. Groups like "The Auburn Ticket Exchange" and "Auburn Football" serve as forums and chat rooms for fans to discuss upcoming events and to buy and sell tickets.
"Freshmen year, I didn't get a full season of tickets, so using Facebook helped me out a lot," said Lana Alessio, a senior in marketing. "It made it much easier to get in touch with people selling some of their tickets and I ended up going to most of the games."
David Finch runs a Web site called "Social Media Explorer" and explains ways to utilize technology.
"Facebook is a great place for video and photos to be uploaded," Finch said. "Not only is it ideal for up-to-date content where fans can participate with the ability to facilitate discussion boards but also to receive the latest information on games and team related events. Twitter can be the ultimate communication tool for last minute changes. "
Finch also addresses the benefits of a team blog as a conversation piece that is easily updated with pictures and video that are easily shared and current schedules and player profiles that can be updated.
Brad Gust, Auburn Associate Media Relations Director, explained that the only official social media network he was aware of was the Auburn football team's Twitter account.
"There will be one specifically for Coach Chizik in the future but for now, FootballAU is the only one," Gust said. He advised that, like anything else on the Internet, use some caution when reading third party sites, not officially associated with the University.
"Hopefully, the information put out by others is accurate but it isn't necessarily," Gust said.
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