SU student finds 15 minutes of social media fame

 

Pat Manley with his Big Boeheim Head. Manley's on the left,

in case you were wondering.

If there's one thing that Web 2.0 has proven it's that the previously elusive 15 Minutes of Fame are easier to attain than ever. Just ask Pat Manley. He knows.

Manley, a graduate student at Syracuse University, has become a local celebrity because of an idea to make Syracuse basketball games just a little more interesting. Manley saw the idea during games at other schools, but he hadn't seen anything like it at Syracuse before. The idea, in case you missed it in the photo above, is the obscenely gigantic photo cutout of Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim's head.

While Manley has received a steady stream of media and interview requests since the Boeheim head made its first appearance a few weeks ago, perhaps nothing has helped spur on Manley's meteoric rise to viral Syracuse fame like social media. It all started hours before Syracuse's home game against Marquette on Jan. 23. Before walking out the door to head to the game with the cutout that took six hours to make, Manley had friend Stephen Wolek snap a photo of the creator with his 5-foot-tall monster. Manley posted the photo to Twitter and Facebook, thinking it would just be a way to show all his friends what he had created.

"Within five minutes it was on a popular Syracuse blog, nunesmagician.com, and by the end of the game I was contacted by the Post Standard about using the very photo I uploaded," Manley said. "Within an hour after the game, I was contacted on Facebook by a girl from CirtusTV to set up an interview time."

And with that, Manley and his big Boeheim head became social media stars. Within 24 hours of the big head's debut, a Facebook Fan page was set up and a Twitter account followed shortly. The Facebook Fan page, which Manley played no hand in setting up, gathered in followers at a blistering pace. Manley was amazed when the group had just a couple of hundred. As of Feb. 8, the group is more than 5,100 strong and growing by the day. The big head's Twitter page is behind that with only 128 followers, although a Twitter search for "Boeheim Head" yields some interesting results.

But Manley has found that the big head hasn't stolen all of the social media spotlight. Manley himself has seen his social media requests rise in the past few weeks.

"My Facebook and Twitter accounts have exploded," Manley said. "I more than doubled my Twitter followers in a week's time and added a significant number of friends on Facebook. I synced up both accounts with my BlackBerry and it is constantly receiving notifications from both."

That might have something to do with Manley's decision to start marketing himself through the success he has had with the big Boeheim head. On the backside of the head, Manley wrote his Twitter account in large black letters so fans behind him at games would be able to find him on the micro-blogging site. He has even parlayed his social media presence into more and more traditional media appearances.

"Once things took off, I used social media in a variety of ways," Manley said. "Brent Axe contacted me through Twitter to set up an appearance on his radio show, which is simulcast on ESPN Radio and Time Warner Cable Sports. I was able to contact (Syracuse basketball players) Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph through Twitter to set up a meeting that allowed me to take their pictures for new heads.

"I used direct messaging on Twitter to communicate with the owner of nunesmagician.com and field questions that he had, as well as provide him with links about the big head; and I was able to set up meetings with local media outlets through Facebook messaging."

Weeks after first becoming an icon at Syracuse basketball games, Manley is still surprised at just how much attention his creation has received and continues to receive through social media. A few years ago, Manley's popularity might have taken much longer to achieve. But through his use of social media and social networking, Manley was able to reach a large number of people in a very short period of time.

"Social media is certainly the wave of the future. Information can be disseminated much faster, it's relatively easy to use and understand and can reach people throughout the world with the click of a button," Manley said. "It was the key ingredient in my 'rise to fame,' and allowed me to connect with Syracuse fans that I would've never interacted with otherwise."

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @JayAdams70