Attention sports writers who live-tweet games: No one cares

For a while I thought about going with my real name here but then it occurred to me I was better off not doing that. (Though, to be fair, I out myself quite regularly on other threads.)
I prefer Schiez. It sounds friendly, even if this board is at its best when its the exact opposite of friendly.

 

This thread:

1. Is in the wrong place. It's a journalism thing.

2. Has a point worth discussing. I don't agree with some of it, but the whole "unfollow! stop complaining!" response might be the most reductive nonsense this board likes to engage in.

I'll try to make the point a different way:

If there are 3 beat writers and they're all doing PBP Twitter from a televised College/pro event, none of the three are distinguishing themselves, and they are writing what you just saw. It's captain obvious shit.

There are better ways to attack Twitter during an event than to recount what's just happened in front of you.

>>Consider strategy like an analyst would. What are you seeing happen over the last several possessions/drives that create a trend.

>>Consider stats that TV is too deep into commercials to provide. To wit: In the last five games, MLB Team A has scored just five runs after the fifth inning.

>>Watch the bench, dugout or sideline for details that cameras miss: CBB PG A didn't look acknowledge his coach one bit when he was benched.

>>Point out what's going on away from the ball. This is especially useful in football: Person X had a good block backside that helped keep a safety off the RB on a long run.

>>Someone will do something great. Dole out praise scarcely, but when it comes, point out the superlative.

>>Stay away from humor if you're not funny. Your partner/BF/GF/spouse, parents and kids do not count in terms of thinking you are funny. Your siblings might. Most men are not nearly as funny as they think and their sarcasm often comes off as arrogance.

>>Do not then lecture others on what sarcasm is when they don't get it. You probably didn't do it right. Again, outside of a game environment, you can pick low-hanging fruit all over Twitter and I'm sure become a regular satirist. But during the game, you either have that gift or not, and you probably don't.

>>Don't bother with second-guessing, because people are smarter than you think and will know it for what it is.

>>Play coach sparingly and try to play it with facts in hand. It's not about being right but providing a viable POV.

>>Tweet less. When you do tweet, endeavor to be different. Out of 9 reporters tweeting at the game, be the one who adds to the viewer's experience. Do not be an echo chamber.

>>Stay away from humor if you're not funny.

>>Stay away from humor if you're not funny.

>>You're probably not that funny.

 

And in one line, Alma sums up most of my point of view. Albeit, he took out the juvenile douchery I excel in but, nonetheless. Thanks!

 

There's an sj Hall of Famer who is great at humorous PBP. Of course, if you go through life with a stick up your ass, Twitter is just one of the many things you'll fail to find funny and/or enjoyable.

 

We're current or former sportswriters. It's sorta incumbent we have sticks. Fury from the vantage point of wooden bleachers is our thing.

 

Sorry, don't agree with this either.

If I want to follow the game away from the game, I am not looking for Peter King. I'm looking for the raw facts. If you can make it sharp, fine. But that just may be more for you (speaking in general) than the reader.

 

With all due respect the right solution -- in this case the antidote to skizza's rage -- is the easiest solution: unfollow.

People will tweet the way they tweet.

Though I do appreciate your post.

 

Surprised Schieza is catching so much flak for this. I think he's mostly right.

Constant just-the-facts play-by-play is brutally boring, and really doesn't do much of a service. People who are not attending to the game may be interested in it, but you sure as hell don't need to tweet every single development in a game.

The people who are good at it mix factual updates with insight and commentary. Context is far more valuable than detail. Don't tell me "Biff Smith runs off tackle, spins from defender for a 4-yard touchdown. Springfield 6, Shelbyville 0." Give me "Biff Smith TD run gives Springfield 6-0 lead. Shelbyville defense looks really tired."

 

Skizzer is right, the pbp can be quite droning. But it is what it is. Some of the most esteemed national guys (beat, column) are the drollingest bores of em all.

 

I think the important point that some people have been flippant on, which obscures it - Some people use Twitter in certain ways vs. other people, the same with any other service. I follow some people because I know they'll be doing play by play on a certain sport or team, and I find this to be useful. Twitter also does offer plenty of filtering options, with the "list" feature, but I don't think many people use it. For my past job, I bunched people I followed by subject (sports, local politics, etc.) or area (Town A, Town B, Town C). Presto! The focused information you want.

 

Play-by-play is boring. But reporters need to be tweeting something other than the final score.

I'm a preps writer, so, for example, we are in baseball/softball season now. Seven innings. I'll tweet ...
Pre-first pitch: Lineup notes, a picture, Vine ... Something just to announce my presence
Scoring: But not every single scoring play if it's 11-10. I'll zone in on lead changes, extra-base RBI hits (who got the hit, who scored on it?)
Final score: And also interesting notes to go with it. Winning streak? First win over this team in (x) years. Player x hit their conference-leading x home run?

I'd say from the pre-first pitch tweet to final, on average day, I send out six tweets. Making sure I get in the names of at least six or so players, knowing the more players mentioned (obviously), the more likely to get added interaction.

Pretty basic stuff. But some other reporters I follow do send out upward of 20 tweets (including updates at the top and bottom of every inning) in a game — and that's annoying. That'll attract more unfollows than follows, IMO.

 

So I tweet fairly regularly and I'll be honest, I'm still not great at it. But when I tweet, I make sure it's a healthy balance of self promotion and personality.
I post A LOT of sports photos on my feed but when I do, I make sure 1.) To never post more than four photos from any one game/shoot, 2.) To warn followers ahead of time I may send out a bunch of tweets and, if I'm posting multiple games, I spread them out over a couple of hours so that I don't clog people's feeds.
When I log on to Twitter, I want to see the latest news and notes from the people I follow. I don't want to see 75% of my feed is one person going off on a Tweetathon with such gems as "Williams with a single up the middle, scoring Clark. Davis now trails 3-2."
F That.
And I do unfollow people quite regularly. I follow a grand total of 87 people. I might go hack that up momentarily. The problem is, with my job, I often HAVE to refollow them in case there's a breaking news story my coworkers may miss or in case I need to get information on some other topic. I wish there were a Twitter filter to filter useful and useless information into separate pages.