Maria Burns Ortiz

The University of Maryland pulled off an upset beating Miami in the two teams’ season opener, but that’s not what had people talking after the game. It was the unique uniforms the Terrapins unveiled that had fans – and the Twitterverse – abuzz.

See: Maryland unis start social media buzz

As I’ve mentioned before, my goal in covering social media is to go beyond simply “this is what so-and-so said on Twitter.” The aim is to put it in some kind of additional context. For this piece, I wanted to look at trying to quantify the value of a social media bump.

After 135 days, the NFL lockout officially came to an end. I wrote up a quick blog for ESPN.com on players’ joyous reactions to the news that the 2011 season will be played.

See: NFL players celebrate lockout’s end on Twitter

Although my column’s focus is social media, there’s some flexibility in what I cover and relevant Web-related sports technology tends to fall under the general umbrella as well. This week’s piece featured an iPad app available only to professional baseball players.

See: MLB players study video with iPad app

Part of what I enjoy about being a journalist, especially in covering sports, is getting a behind-the-scenes look at an area that millions of people are passionate about. However, it’s about more than just having an all-access pass. It’s about then being able to bring that information to an audience that might never have known about it otherwise. That’s why it piqued my interest when I heard that Bloomberg had developed an app that was only available to professional baseball players. It’s not only a unique and incredibly exclusive product – they’re appealing to a very small and elite demographic – but it’s also the kind of story the average fan might not have heard and would find interesting.

A new Twitter record was set during the Women’s World Cup final match between the United States and Japan with users posting a 7,196 tweets per second. This fact combined with the outpouring of social media reaction from notable personalities, both in the sports world and other spheres, became the featured story in my newest @Page2 column.

See: Women’s World Cup fans storm Twitter

I initially had another top for my column (which will run in two weeks), but sometimes when big stories happen you have to switch things up on the fly. There’s always a little bit of pressure when you’re writing something editors are waiting on to post, but there’s also specific sense of accomplishment you feel when you file a piece you’ve worked to turn around quickly. It takes me back to my days of daily deadlines when working in the newspaper world.

Everyone knows that Shaquille O’Neal became as big a star in Twitterverse as he did in the NBA. And, as I covered in my last @Page2 column, the UFC has been incredibly successful in the social mediasphere. But what people might not know is that Amy Jo Martin and her company, Digital Royalty, have been the driving force behind these social media strategies.

See: Amy Jo Martin blazes trails with Shaq

Part of what’s been great about writing @Page2 has been the opportunity to really get a look at what’s going on behind-the-scenes in the world of sports and social media. I have been covering sports professionally for approaching a decade and feel I have a strong understanding of social media (as much as one can in an ever-evolving industry), but being able to speak with sports personalities and social media leaders and get their insight has further broadened my knowledge and perspective when it comes to the digital space.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has set the benchmark for sports organizations when it comes to social media. I wrote about about the NBA’s status as a leader in the social space a few weeks back, and there’s no question that the NBA is dominant when it comes to numbers. However, UFC has embraced social media in a way that no other league or sport has.

See: Dana White leads UFC into social realm

Led by president Dana White, UFC clearly understands the importance of not just using social media to communicate information, but as a way to connect with their fans. The UFC also instituted sports’ first social media bonus, another progressive – even revolutionary – measure