A Bit Early, But ...

Happy Thanksgiving from the Journal of Sports Media. We get a full week break here at Ole Miss, so in case you don't hear from us in awhile, here are some pre-Thanksgiving tidbits to nibble on--

The first anniversary of the car accident that caused Tiger Woods' world to spin out of control is next week, and Woods seems more eager than ever to try and rehabilitate his reputation in the sports media. He wrote a first-person story for Newsweek, appeared on ESPN Radio, and opened a Twitter account. His first tweets: "What's up everyone. Finally decided to try out twitter!" And then, "Yep, it's me. I think I like this twitter thing. You guys are awesome. Thanks for all the love."

Interesting that Tiger is just now starting to realize the value of Twitter and social media in terms of how he can connect to fans and shape his image. Tiger actually created a Twitter account in June, but apparently didn't get serious about it until last week. So far, he has 230,000 followers, which sounds like a lot, but consider that fellow golfer Stewart Cink, an avid Twitterer, has 1.2 million followers and Shaq has 3.3 million. Tiger is going to have to do more than just plug his website and Facebook page if he's serious about connecting to fans.
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The International Sociology of Sport Association World Congress meets in Havana, Cuba next summer. There's still time to sign up and you can find more information here.

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There is a call for submissions for special issues of Mass Communication & Society. The issues will center on the 2012 Olympics in London, with Volume Two to focus on the blurring of lines between producers and consumers of the 2012 Olympics in the new media landscape. Manuscripts of up to 9000 words (including references, tables, and endnotes) must be submitted by January 2, 2013, and should be submitted electronically through this site. Authors should indicate in their cover letters that the manuscript is for the OLYMPICS SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 2. Selected manuscripts are scheduled be published on December 1, 2013 in Volume 16(6) of MCS.

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And finally, the deadline for abstracts for the NASSH Conference in Austin, TX next year is fast approaching (December 1). If you're interested, there's much more information here.