Haworth joins Sun Belt staff as Digital & Social Media Correspondent
NEW ORLEANS – Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson announced today the appointment of Whitney Haworth as Digital and Social Media Correspondent. Haworth will create original content for SunBeltSports.org and the Sun Belt Digital Network while assisting with social media initiatives for the conference office.

Haworth will lead a digital and social media strategy that has experienced exponential growth in the last three years. The Sun Belt has seen an 870% increase in total video views across all digital and social media platforms, including SunBeltSports.org, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This jump is separate from a dramatic increase in fan interaction on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app where fans watched more than 56 million minutes of Sun Belt Conference content during the last academic year alone.

The Sun Belt has also seen the highest percentage increase in Twitter followers across all of the 10 FBS conferences in the last three years, and the second highest percentage increase of the same group in its Facebook page likes from 2015-16. Its official hashtag #FunBelt routinely trends on social media, particularly on football gamedays in the fall, throughout the course of March Madness and into the spring during the baseball and softball seasons.

“Whitney is a tremendous addition to the Sun Belt staff,” Benson said. “She has a vast knowledge of digital and social media production and will bring an indispensable skillset to our office and our member institutions. Her experience with some of the best digital production professionals in the Southeastern Conference will help us tell the exciting stories of the Sun Belt and its member institutions to a national audience.”

Haworth arrives in New Orleans following a year-long, post-grad internship as a Reporter and Production Assistant with GatorVision at the University of Florida. She was the primary reporter for the men’s and women’s golf and tennis teams and assisted with football, men’s and women’s basketball, lacrosse, softball, swimming and diving and volleyball.

For the last two years, Haworth has been a sideline reporter and contributor for the SEC Network, including covering select SEC Network+ broadcasts of women’s basketball, softball, women’s tennis and volleyball contests. She wrote and produced features and highlights that were published on SECSports.com and broadcasted by the SEC Network.

Haworth also assisted the communications and marketing departments at Florida in executing promotional and social media strategies. She assisted in production at the 2015 SEC Football Championship, 2015 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, 2016 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament, 2016 SEC Men’s Tennis Tournament, 2016 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships and the 2016 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship.

Prior to joining GatorVision, Haworth completed a year-long internship as a Reporter and Production Assistant with VFL Films at the University of Tennessee. While there, she hosted, shot, produced and edited video features on all Tennessee Volunteer sports. She hosted and edited a weekly feature, “A Thousand Words”, while also shooting and editing highlights. She also interviewed student-athletes and coaches for segments on the “Butch Jones Show.”

Haworth served as a Media Relations Assistant for two years at Tennessee. She shot and produced video features, highlights and practice reports on various Volunteer sports for UTSports.com. She also wrote daily articles and practice reports for Tennessee football and men’s and women’s basketball.

Haworth comes to New Orleans from Tennessee, and graduated from the University of Tennessee in December of 2013 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and Electronic Media, Sports Journalism.