The age of social media is upon us — it has infiltrated everyday life in the mainstream, not just one niche segment of the population. It's a new social norm...every person and every business is expected to have a presence on social media.

Athletics programs are no different. Twitter and Facebook are a way of life for athletics programs, a new way to disseminate information, a way to attract potential athletes and students. It is a way to keep fans that are states away engaged in their school pride.

We know you want to make social media very prominent on your site so you can get the feedback and followers you're seeking. With that in mind, I'm proud to announce a new way in which you can take control: our new Social Stream content type.

When your social media strategy goes right

A well-executed social media strategy can be a boon to your site. Mount Union has a tab on its home page dedicated solely to social media, headlined by two Twitter widgets, one that filters tweets by the #gomountgo hashtag and another which shows tweets from its @purpleriders account. Fans can tweet using the hashtag or tweet at the @purpleraiders account right from that page, as well as click a link to a more in-depth social page that has widgets for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram and YouTube. It's a one-stop shop for fans to see all the latest Purple Raiders social content.

This focused strategy helped the Purple Raiders get a huge wave of Twitter traffic during the 2012 Stagg Bowl, during which they were temporarily unable to access their account.

Now easier than ever

It's never been easier to show off your social media presence than with the Social Stream content type. It still uses widgets, the preferred way to display social media on your site in a manner that flows with your site design. But instead of giving us your account info to set up widgets on your site, you control it all yourself. Benefits of the Social Stream include:

• you determine what is shown on the stream by adding whichever accounts you'd like (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or a Twitter hashtag)
• you can see Instagram images in the stream and you can see who liked the photo
• the social media icons themselves have a new clean look
• you can hide inappropriate content from the stream with the Moderate button

You will control all this through the new "SOCIAL: STREAM" content type, which will be included in the next release. You can even have multiple Twitter timelines and hashtags, and the stream will also filter who else is using your hashtag, allowing you to see how far your hashtag is going through the Twitter world.

Of course, the viewing tool is responsive. Mobile users won't miss out on anything because the page will adjust accordingly for their screen size.

We're very excited about this new feature. Let us know what you think!