With March Madness beginning this afternoon, I thought it would be appropriate to see what was going on with social media when it came to the NCAA and the teams participating in the tournament. It is evident from blogging and researching about other topics, such as the Super Bowl, that social media has become a big part sporting events. One article, "March Madness Teams Disappoint on Social Media", emphasizes the importance of individual teams to have their own accounts on social media sites that are separate from their school's athletic department.
       According to this article, "Last year, March Madness drove over two million social mentions, and 83% of sports fans check social media during games. By definition, sports is a social activity, and the second-screen's role in sports is becoming obvious." Not only is social media being used for people to interact and talk about the tournament, but fans, and non-fans, are constantly using social media as a way to receive updates their teams and scores. This becomes a lot easier when teams have their own social media accounts and people aren't wasting their time reading about the athletic department's posts about other sports that they don't care about. Having a team presence on social media sites will not only benefit your fans by giving them an easy way to receive updates specific to you during March Madness, but it also creates a personal connection between the fan and the team by receiving updates and being able to stay connected year-round. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are easy ways to quickly learn about your favorite teams and are an easy and free way for those teams to spread new news and keep fans engaged and dedicated to the team. 
      Of the teams participating in the 2013 March Madness tournament, only 45% have team-specific accounts on both Twitter and Facebook. While I agree that social media is a great way for fans to interact and keep up with their teams during March Madness and the rest of the year, I don't believe it is necessary for teams to have their own account on social media platforms. It's a good idea for them to do and wouldn't hurt to create one, but there are also numerous other ways for people to be able to keep up with March Madness from their phone on social media sites. They may have to search through other updates for ones specific to their team, but numerous apps and Facebook pages are dedicated to providing viewers with immediate scores, results, and other information about the event. As previously talked about with the Oscars and the Super Bowl, it will be interesting to look up the statistics of March Madness after it is completed and see how many more tweets and posts are made about the tournament in comparison to past years. 

~Katie