In Response to Aubrey's Post on 2/1

Personally, I feel as though I have been denied a job due to pictures and information on my Facebook. That being said, I think every company has the right to view the Facebook of a possible job candidate.  Facebook is a public website open freely to everyone.  Also, you can learn a lot about a person with some simple profile information and a few pictures.  This information could be extremely useful in search for the right person for the job.  I agree with you in the simple idea that if you have something you don’t want people to see or read, then don’t put it out in the open on the internet. 

I made a recent personal decision to deactivate my Facebook.  Even with all the good aspects of Facebook, I felt as though the negatives outweighed the positives in my case.  Not only can it create a bad image for you, but it can stir up personal issues that would never come about otherwise.  Also, I had almost 600 “friends” on Facebook, all of whom had access to all of my pictures and all of my posts.  In reality, there are probably only a handful of people I want seeing my pictures and reading my posts and most of them are friends I see on a regular basis, therefore making me feel as though Facebook is pointless.  I feel as though people forget that not very long ago there was no such thing as Facebook or Twitter and everyone seemed to get by just fine.  I would strongly recommend everyone to deactivate their Facebook and see what happens.  For me, since deactivating my Facebook I feel much less stress in my life and I have much more free time on my hands.  I can safely say I won’t be reactivating it anytime soon.

NBA Promotes "Ethnic Heritage" Nights

Due to a recent lack in fan attendance, the NBA is trying a new marketing strategy in order to reach more audiences and in turn boost ticket sales. In a recent article I read off of www.learnthe4ps.com, Joe Cannon posted a column entitled “Great examples of sports marketing – Ethnic Heritage nights at NBA games” in which he explains how the NBA is trying to broaden their market with new “Ethnic Heritage” nights.  These nights will consist of certain ethnic dance/entertainment, ethnic food, and ethnic players on one or perhaps both of the teams.

As international basketball leagues across the globe continue to grow, the NBA has started to see a major rise in foreign-born players.  Many of these players began their careers in international leagues and later decided to bring their talent to the NBA in search of better competition and higher salary contracts. Some of these players have had crucial roles on championship teams; including France’s Tony Parker, Argentina’s Manu Ginobli, and Spain’s Pau Gasol.  Some have been the first overall pick in the NBA draft; including Australia’s Andrew Bogut, Italy’s Andrea Bargnani, and China’s Yao Ming.  Some have even been league MVP’s; including Canada’s Steve Nash and Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki.  But these international players don’t just bring their talent with them; they bring their fans as well. 

These players tend to be national icons in their home country and have developed a devoted following of fans, who in-turn carry their support to the NBA.  As the foreign fan-base of the NBA continues to grow, the league has developed a new marketing strategy in attempt to draw more of these new fans to the arena.  The link beneath is a video from Wall Street Journal online that shows an example of an Ethnic Heritage night in Los Angeles in which Turkish fans were encouraged to attend to see Turkish half-time dancers and the most popular Turkish player in the NBA, Hedo Turkoglu.  Unfortunately for these fans Turkoglu was traded from the team just days before the game, showing how external factors can crucially affect the marketing strategy.  Turkish Heritage Night in LA (Video)

            Perhaps most importantly has been the recent emergence of the Sacramento Kings’ forward Omri Casspi, the league’s first and only player of Israeli decent.  Casspi has proven to be an emerging star in the league and is drawing in huge support all over the Jewish community.  All over the country, Casspi’s appearance has caused the opposing teams to host a Jewish Heritage night whenever Sacramento comes to town.  In places like Boston, Toronto, Washington and Atlanta teams have given out yarmulkes and even provided kosher food when hosting Casspi’s Kings.

            It is more than apparent that this is good for the league in terms of drawing a larger audience, but do these events take away from the game?  To me, it seems that all of this would just become a distraction from the game itself.  These Ethnic Heritage nights put so much emphasis on ethnic ceremonies and players (generally on the opposing team) and takes away from the real main event, the home team versus the away team.  The question I have now is how will these nights affect the people who are going to support the home team and not necessarily the “Ethnic Heritage” night?  If you were planning on buying a ticket to see your favorite home team and you knew that it was going to be an “Ethnic Heritage” night, would you go anyway or perhaps try to find a ticket to another game?