Farewell, SI.com live bloggers

Got the bad word yesterday. Game over for myself and the SI.com live blog crew...it was a blast the past three seasons.
I'm disappointed, but not shocked...there were some problems with the running time interface this past season that drove off plenty of our followers. Therefore, I'm back in the market for weekend live or online freelance gigs.

 

I did a little bit of live blogging for a paper a few years back. It was one of the coolest things I did. But I don't think people actually read them. They are too delayed for people watching the game or listening on the radio. Sometimes they are good for a quick recap, but the niche isn't really there, IMO.

 

The SE at my former paper uses Twitter for his live blog. Doesn't bring much traffic into the site with a widget on the home page and has less than 100 followers after doing it for two years.

It's quite sad, actually, since I don't use my Twitter account on a professional basis and I have about 200 followers.

 

I often found out that stuff I'd post about was not yet reflected in the play-by-play elements. Even the best live-bloggers (and we had some excellent ones - our target audience was people who couldn't get the game in their area or people who didn't have access to a TV) can't overcome a clunky interface that's running behind other sports sites.
Some of the pissing contests between the commenters didn't help, either.

 

Anybody who uses Twitter for play-by-play gets an immediate unfollow, in my book. No need to log on to the thing and see 400 posts of play-by-play between Cumberland/Georgia Tech.

 

That is a play-by-play I would pay to see.

 

Does CBS still have the people do live blogs, or, as they called them, "glogs." Some of the comments on those make youtube commenters look like Michael Chabon.

 

IMHO, Twitter used in the proper manner - definitely not p-b-p - can be valuable. If you update each time there's a score change or if there's a key moment in the game, I think you can grab some followers. Target folks who you think aren't at the game and want to get updates without having to search for 'em.

 

^^That.

Twitter was a huge help in gathering high school scores tonight for a radio broadcast. Very useful.

 

Our live blogs are quite successful. We get people who can't watch the game for whatever reason and also those who just want to be able to chat with "an expert" or other fans. Using CoverItLive - where you can moderate comments - is huge.

 

Twitter is a best venue for live interaction during a game, a crisis, a presidential debate. The problem is that outlets can't monetize it, so they all want to reinvent the thing.

 

I've got a great idea. Shut off the handheld, turn off the laptop and desktop, watch the game on TV, listen to the announcers, follow the action and form your own opinions. If you want to share them with someone, invite them over to watch. If you need someone else to tweet or blog in order for your brain to work, then you need to chill.

Game not televised, turn on the radio. No radio? Go play some golf.

You think when I watch ND-Michigan next week I'm not going to be able to survive 30 seconds without some expert writing to me what to think? Think again. Besides, with Brian Kelly running this no-huddle offense, there's no time to be switching my time between the TV and a computer screen.