Breaking down the Ivy League Online

Each week we will break down a different conference across the D-1 landscape, giving you a look into how they are connecting with fans (and recruits) across their website and social media. Along the way, we'll elevate a few things in each conference that are best-in-class: what we can learn from the schools that make up each conference.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

We break down leagues based on how squads finished last season. Thus far we've checked out the ACC, Horizon, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Atlantic 10, MVC, and Pac-10. It's time to keep moving... The Ivy saw Cornell pull big upsets and advance to the Sweet 16, so we'll pick things up here.

Today, we'll start with a look into the Ivy League Online.

The Ivy League Elevates the News.

At its core, the Ivy League has positioned themselves as the source for information on the 8 member institutions. They create multiple entry points into this information, which I'll reveal below.

First, at the top of the page you'll see a ticker. The latest headlines scroll across the page, like you'd find on CNN or ESPN. Click onto any of them and you can check out the full story.

Now, turn your attention to the right hand side of the page, shown below. The latest news across all schools fills up the box.


You can interact with this box, click on your sport, and see a full look at the latest news -- not just from the schools themselves but from the NY Times, Sports Illustrated, and others.

How could this be better? I like the easy access to news but wish it would be easier to sign up and have these alerts brought to me -- by sport and by team. So if I only want Cornell Hoops alerts, I can get those here. As a bonus, this creates an opportunity for the Ivy League to directly connect with fan bases of a specific team and/or sport.

Ivy League week continues tomorrow. We will take a peak at how the conference is leveraging social media. Then, we'll wrap the week up with 3 peaks into things I found fantastic across the 8-team conference landscape.

Don't forget, you can follow along via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy