Why I'm Thankful for Johnny Jungle

This week is Thanksgiving Week. So I'm taking the week to look at 5 sites who aren't "Official" School sites but who make following a school more dynamic. These sites play a critical role in building an athletics brand, and should not be ignored for the roll they play in cultivating a fan base... and inspiring a (prospective) recruit.

Tune in on this blog, or you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook, here.

Up today, St John's and the Johnny Jungle, linked here and shown below. This is the "Unofficial home of St John's Basketball." I love these sites, because they step in where athletics sites often cannot and go deep on a critical sport for the university. But it is not just the fact that an unofficial home exists that I'm thankful for... it is what this home offers. Let's dive in.

Recruiting.

The Johnny Jungle is definitely out to become the Source for all things recruiting. They bubble up Recruiting into the home page, shown below. And they also bubble up Recruiting info (a calendar and NCAA guidelines) into the main navigation (which you can see above). Recruiting is a critical part of the athletics journey (and no doubt LOTS of time spent searching online by fans). It just makes sense that this unofficial home would make this critical... and they do.

So where could they take it? What if recruits were interviewed here? What if they had a deep analysis of each move and what it meant for the team? I see a lot of potential to evolve the News into the Experience. Big plus to this!!!

Social.

Johnny Jungle takes a very advanced look into Social. While most sites simply give us ways to follow them on Facebook or Twitter, the Jungle goes deep.

Click in here to check the page, I'll call out my favorite features below.

Facebook Application

Clicking into Facebook takes us here, to the Jungle's official Facebook page, which you see below.

From here, you need to visit the APP page. As you'll see on this official APP page, below, by adding the APP, you get all breaking news from the site delivered to your Facebook wall. Thus, you don't have to visit the Facebook page of the Jungle, just visit your own page. Nice!!!

How could this be better? Imagine if there was content only available by having this app. That would give you the info you need, ahead of everyone else. Amazing.

The Latest Tweets

The Jungle bubbles up all tweets with #STJBB into the social tab, below. It's a nice way to see all the conversation in one spot. I love this, as it is a not-so-subtle reminder that, at any time, there is chatter about the squad. And, as a recruit, that's a magical and critical thing to remember.

How could this be better? Make it easy to separate experts from fans. That way you can see the authentic voice of St John's (coaches, players, former players) separated from the flow. Then take this engine and elevate it beyond the Social Tab. Hit us hard with this goodness -- Remind us of the power of that collective voice!

Regular Original Content.

Finally, at the end of the day it is about original content. Where can you go for authentic info you can't find elsewhere? That's a critical reason to come back. The Johnny Jungle solves this challenge, with regular columns as you can see below.

I love Daly Dribble, here, as it is a digestible chunk of goodness on the program, in a voice that feels authentic but also personal.

How could this be better? Make it easy to subscribe for the newsletter(s) of your choosing. I feel the system is here, we just have a chance to make it even easier to get this information. And the knowledge of this can help the Jungle evolve -- offering more of what people want and less of what they don't. It's all about priorities, right?

That's it. And, THANK YOU to the Johnny Jungle for giving us a reason to love sites like this.

Come back tomorrow as we break down yet another site to be Thankful for! Don't forget, Tune in on this blog, or you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook, here.