The Virtual Living Room

The BYU football blog reported on the 
international social media buzz created by 
Taysom Hill and the Cougars

     Early in the 2013 college football season, the BYU Cougars hosted the 15^th ranked Texas Longhorns in Provo, Utah. Having watched their team lose their season opener against Virginia, Brigham Young fans were delighted to watch their Cougars start to pull away from the nationally ranked Longhorns early in the game. Many were surprised to see the lead continue to grow through the second half, leading to a huge victory.

     Because I didn’t have access to watch the game, I followed the score online (while trying to do homework, if I remember correctly). Almost as interesting as following the scores and play updates was following the live Twitter feed that scrolled along the side of the page. While I could see when BYU scored touchdowns and knocked of big yardage plays, my real understanding of what happened that night came

from following that feed. It wasn’t just BYU fans who were commenting on the Taysom Hill’s thrashing of the Texas defense. Tweets were coming in from all over the country praising Hill’s domination of the Longhorns. I followed the Cougars through the season and continued to rely on the tweets to help me get a feel for the game.

     The presence of game-based discussion always makes the game more enjoyable for me. I recently watched a state high school soccer final online where there was no announcer, just straight video of the game. I felt strange not having an analyst or commentator discuss what I was watching.

     Although I was often following the BYU games alone from my living room while doing homework, I noticed the live tweets were doing something similar for me as watching the game with a group of friends. The Twitter discussion of what was happening in the game virtually extended my living room to included a big group of fans who were scattered all over the place. This is when I really realized just how much social media is going to continue influencing the way we participate in sports consumption. This blog is aimed at highlighting current issues in sports and communication. Thank you for following!