In the Tweet of the Moment: How Bad is In-Game Twittering, Really?
Has anything gotten more free press in the last year than Twitter? Quick answer: no. And Twitter’s leading PR reps in that time have been professional athletes, which is really weird if you think about it. No one wants to hear what athletes have to say, why the sudden interest in what they have to write tweet?
Although it was not the first instance of Twitter in sports, then-Milwaukee Buck Charlie Villanueva sent out a tweet during halftime and caught all sorts of crazy publicity about how unprofessional the act was. Then Shaquille O’Neal did the same thing all sneaky style because a) he wanted to prove he could get away with it – because he’s an egoist and b) he wished he’d thought of it in the first place.
Then the people that get paid to analyze and illuminate sports analyzed this situation and illuminated the whole tweet development as a vaguely negative phenomenon.
Most of Twitter’s sports press either uses them as any other source or as something slowly sapping the blood from their veins. Many writers feel that athletes like Lance Armstrong suddenly have the power to put them out of business, instead of keeping them working in it.
Armstrong boycotted the journalists at this year’s Giro d’Italia, opting instead to send out progress updated tweets, leaving journalists no choice but to tuck their tails between their legs and quote the feed. You have to assume the sportswriters took to Armstrong’s tweets like a busted investment banker takes to serving venti half-caf’ vanilla lattés at his new Starbucks barista position.
All middlemen think they’re worthwhile. You know who doesn’t? Everyone else. The moral of the Armstrong story is that he didn’t want to talk to journalists, so he didn’t. And the common cycling fan was just as empowered to keep tabs on Armstrong as a credentialed reporter. With the way athletes have branded Twitter into the flesh of their public existence, the role of journalist is shifting right along with the definition of what one is.
Cincinnati Bengal Chad Johnson Ochocinco has already threatened to tweet throughout next season’s games even though the NFL said it won’t be tolerated (shocker). Guys like “85″ have the potential to really blow the roof off of Twitter because fans want these tweets to be “real.” Fans want a revealing look into the life experiences of a pro athlete. And while a lot of stars are too corporately managed to say anything worth anyone’s attention, not everyone will be as vapid. Some of the stars that fail to filter themselves in interviews will likely do the same on Twitter, but with tons more grammatical errors.
Granted, not every tweet scheme is gold. Generally unknown and unliked tennis player, Justin Gimelstob, sent messages to a ball girl to pass along to fellow U.S. player Sam Querrey parked on the sidelines. Querrey then updated Gimelstob’s Twitter feed in-game. Technically, there’s nothing wrong with this since Gimelstob himself never posted a tweet. But when you stop to consider the 10 seconds here and there that he used to jot down useless information like scores and one-word adjectives throughout the match, it really didn’t add anything to the fan’s experience of tennis.
And for the scared sports journalists out there who absolutely must attack new social media, your real reason to dislike Twitter isn’t because it threatens sports writing (it doesn’t) but because it encourages athlete’s egos. Gimelstob added nothing with his play-by-play recaps, but he felt he did (similar to how I feel I’m somehow adding to a discussion about in-game tweeting despite most people already having made up their mind about the topic).
If it’s not players mistaking their own narcissism for serving their sport, it’s the media themselves trying to figure out Twitter’s best use. The Washington Post announced Thursday its plans to collect tweets from Nationals fans (all five of ‘em) at the home games over a period of 10 days and then regurgitate them onto the Post. Again, not every use of Twitter is a good one. While I applaud one of America’s most respected news sources for trying … something, this won’t add value. Fans don’t care about random tweets, they care about very specific tweets from specific people (mostly players and important team personnel).
What are we worried about with these in-game tweets? Players becoming distracted? Leaked play strategy for the other team to intercept? Some boneheaded player typing some boneheaded sentiment? All these problems exist already and all have been dealt with. Twitter wouldn’t be any different. What would be different is the unprecedented access to the athlete’s lives. Anyone aware of the reality programming/ tabloid culture we live in understands how our society craves intimate looks into people’s lives. The more famous the better.
But it isn’t just pros getting in on the action. The St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team will host an all social media night where the players and coaching staff are not only allowed, but encouraged to update their Facebook status and send tweety Twitter twittles throughout the game. The pitching coach for the Saints even said he’d tweet while making a trip to the pitcher’s mound.
Sigh.
First of all, it’s a minor league game. I doubt tickets are so scarce that scads of people are forced to stay home watching Twitter feeds of the Saints rattle off for three hours. The fans that care will be there. What are the odds that any of these jokers will have anything to say? Services like Twitter should be an outlet for a pre-existing need, not a void that people should find whatever rubble they can with which to fill it.
But at least the Saints – like the Washington Post – are open to the medium in the first place. It’s a start, right? Every sports outlet in every city throughout the world wants to bring fans closer to their favorite sport, right? Well, ain’t nothin’ closer than the immediate, unedited musings of the athletes themselves.
And although it isn’t a flawless system, it is a promising one that could use a lot more embracing and a lot less chastising.
_____________________________
Pictures courtesy of Flickr
Leave a Reply
