It was my third time talking at SXSW but there were plenty of other 'firsts' in Austin.
Overachievers: Boxing must counter-punch UFC on social media, right now!
Boxing is enjoying another renaissance with big fight after big fight in sell-out venue. However, it still lags behind UFC in terms of social media smarts. How did that happen and how will it change?
Why I love... Lukas Podolski
Former Germany striker Lukas Podolski is an over-achiever on social media. I like his style, his positivity and the way he projects his personality. Here's why...
The OTT platform who stole Christmas TV and Black Mirror > Doctor Who
Christmas is over and, I admit it, I gorged on food and video content. But Christmas TV, supposedly the best the terrestrial broadcasters can offer, could not shake me from Netflix. The battle between Black Mirror and Doctor Who proved the point
FC Global: Notes on the 179 football clubs with over 1m social media followers
Lots and lots of numbers in this blog. Looking at all the football clubs with more than 1m followers on social media, what is changing, which countries like which platforms and who is overperforming?
What is your off-the-wall sports social media prediction for 2018?
So it's officially 2018 and it is blogging law that you have to produce a predictions piece. I canvassed the opinions of colleagues across the sports digital and business sector.
They were asked to answer one question - what is your off-the-wall sports social media prediction for 2018?
My favourite social post by a football club in 2017 is....
Here are my favourite social media posts by football clubs in 2017. The first was "tolerance, diversity and unity in one picture". The second was hilarious honesty. But both were unplanned.
Football documentaries: fly-on-the-wall or fly in the ointment?
Amazon's first foray into football in the UK is a fly-on-the-wall documentary series. Will it be different to what has gone before? How does it fit into the other club content? And what effect could it have on storytelling at football clubs?
If content were really king then creators would be treated like royalty
In sports organisations, it is all about the W and $, not the story. But that really needs to change. Here's why...
The accidental experiment that proves media consumption is changing... and BT are terrible
Look, I did not mean to do it. Pride got the better of me. I thought the kids would miss their shows but, as it turned out, they weren't watching them anyway. And, it seems, their parents have quietly changed their viewing habits too.
How Ultimate Team cards helped the FIFA video game do a number on all-comers
The video game FIFA has beaten its main competitor because of its concentration on realism, creative evolution and the statistics for Ultimate Team. Ahead of the release of FIFA18, here's the story so far...
The Overachievers: Yeovil Town - how signing a player in real life (and then on FIFA17) created the 'reveal' of the summer
Wacky signing announcements are all the rage. However Yeovil Town created the buzz of the summer, relative to their size, with a slew of inventive reveals using FIFA, Snapchat, Countdown and THAT meme. Here's how they did it.