There’s a lot of talk in the social space about the benefits of having a high Klout score, but it is rare that one sees Klout being used for greater good.
I stumbled upon a project sponsored by Klout and Nike Basketball called Campus Roar. The basic premise is that four universities that “roar the loudest” in the social space will win a youth basketball coach, sponsored by Nike, to serve kids in need in the university’s community. A “roar” consists of a Facebook post or a tweet that is automatically tagged with the university-specific hashtag and #CampusRoar. The “roars” also show up on Nike Basketball within the respective university’s page.
It is well known that there are countless studies illustrating the positive impact being involved in sports and recreational activities can have on a child, especially for those in low-income homes, so Campus Roar stands to make a huge impact on youth in the winning communities.
What I find interesting about Campus Roar is that Nike could have easily sponsored the entire promotion solo. The inclusion of Klout really intensifies the social aspect of the competition by allowing roars to be amplified by users with a high Klout score. The leaderboard is calculated using more than aggregate number of tweets for each university, but also by number of retweets and likes the roars receive on Nike Basketball.
To roar for your favorite university, visit: Klout or Nike Basketball.
As of the date of this blog, the current Top 10 Universities on Campus Roar are:
1. Northern Iowa
2. Oakland
3. Missouri State
4. University of Georgia
5. Syracuse University
6. North Florida University
7. University of Oregon
8. Gonzaga University
9. University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
10. West Virginia University
I’ve recently found out that I will be attended South By Southwest Interactive this year (insert squeal here), so my past few days have been a crash course on the panels, events, venues, etc.