Using social media to keep up with athletes

Just brought it up because you mentioned said only with pros. He's a little bit of an extreme case due to his popularity, but what if it was one of his lesser-known teammates commenting on the incident (or something else)?

I understand you really meant not to quote/follow prep athletes, but I'm a contrarian so I couldn't help myself.

 

A total offshoot, but I still have "kids" (guys and girls) from when I was SE two papers ago as friends on my personal facebook, they are now 22-23 years old, and they have graduated college, a few gotten married, come out of the closest, just got out of jail, etc. ... and I don't feel wrong having them on there still.
Heck, a few tracked me down just in the last year to add me.

 

One of the biggest concerns I have about relying on Twitter and Facebook is, at least with the collegians and pros, is authenticity. Is this really (for example) Serena Williams tweeting something, or one of her people?

 

NFL players often get the blue check mark that means they've been verified as who they are.

Otherwise, look at who they're following and who they follow, who they interact with. If 40 college teammates are following them, it's probably them. Certainly something to be careful about. I would not report directly off a tweet except in very rare circumstances.

 

This, unfortunately.

The magic of Twitter is it makes the idea of "scooping" on many different levels seem ancient and many athletes, coaches, PR people have increasingly gone the "tweeting the news" route before it gets out or is discovered.

This is especially true with college commitments and things like guys transferring colleges and unfortunately that means, yes, you need to follow high school and college athletes social media but as someone so eloquently put it - don't be a creeper and don't get into discussions because all you should care about is something that is newsworthy.

 

Given how fast the environment is changing, 2008 would have been an appropriate guess. We have to move on from the notion that quoting Facebook and Twitter is taboo. Our readers expect us to provide them with that information, and if we can't deliver, they can find it themselves. That's what so scary about social media: They don't really need us, so we better make them want us.

 

It is a scary time for real journalists and real media outlets because every douchebag with a computer is now a blogger, the social media stuff, message board stuff - there is just so much "noise" clogging the airwaves that newspapers are losing their voice because they are sharing it and are thus thrown into the same boat as all the rest of the people in blogosphere. It is a scary time.

 

Saw this recently, you tell me: asinine or sign of the times?

Reporter at major paper trying to get a comment for a story, tweets @JoeBlow "Joe, this is RexReporter doing a story on your [legal problem], call me at 333-333-3333.'

In the subsequent story, unable to get the quote, the reporter writes: 'Blow did not respond to a tweet sent to his Twitter account.'

Seriously? Is that how we do it these days?

 

You don't do that. But if they tweet some game got canceled or someone got suspended or quit the team. Now you don't go quoting 99.9 percent of it (I might quote something about a players commitment, maybe), but sometimes it can give you a good lead on a story the coach wants to brush under the rug.

Does that mean you're treating them like a college or pro player? Nope. It means you have another way to keep up with the multitude of athletes and teams in your area.

Note: you still have to be a professional in this arena, which some people aren't.

 

You can't include that line. I don't have a problem with tweeting at the guy to get him to call you. But you can't blame him for not responding to an incredibly impersonal form of communication. This guy might get tons of Twitter mentions a day, depending on his celebrity.

I even have some issue with "Blow did not respond to e-mails." Pick up the phone at every chance.

 

To me it screamed, "Too lazy to dial a phone, and too obtuse to know how pathetic this makes me look."

If you're not going to get the comment or response either way, wouldn't you go with an unreturned phone call?

 

If you don't have a person's phone number, you might reach out via e-mail (good), Facebook (not as good) or Twitter (awkward). If someone follows you, you can send them a direct message -- only you and them would be able to read it. It's essentially an email. Phone is certainly preferable whenever possible.