Friday, July 24, 2009

Twitter is Twuseless

Recently, it has come to my attention that I've been Twittering (tweeting, twitting, whatever) more than I've been blogging. Unfortunately, that's twue.

I registered on Twitter strictly to keep up, be part of the flow, see what was posted there and what wasn't, who was posting there, and who wasn't. Many of my students post their every move in life there. So do many former students. And other assorted friends and acquaintances.

The other day, noticing that just four people were followng all four posts I've put up on Twitter in the last six months, I decided to go crazy and show, once and for all, that Twitter is twuly twuseless. And I banged out 200+ tweets (twits, whatever).

Some were sports related. (What's a Twitter account holder's favorite thing to see happen at a baseball game? A twouble-play. Who's a Twitter account holder's favorite player on a football team? The twuarterback.)

Some weren't sports related. (Did you hear about Twitter's new corporate motto? If at first you don't succeed, twy, twy again; What do you call a hooker with a Twitter account? Someone who stwuts her stuff.)

Suddenly, I had close to 90 followers on Twitter in less than 48 hours. It didn't matter how inane my posts were, as above. All the posts included "...a Twitter holder..." so as to make sure Twitter account holders knew I was spoofing them big-time, to let them know I didn't care that they were waiting in line at the car wash, stuck in LA traffic, deciding what zit cream to buy, or whatever they had to tweet (twit, whatever) with the rest of the world.

Something tells me I'm not alone, which is likely in good part why my number of followers on Twitter has increased rapidly.

But this is a sports blog, linked to my Journal of Sports Media blog line (http://www.journalsportsmedia.blogspot.com/), a professional journal for academics and working professionals interested in increasing their knowledge of and criticial-thinking perimeters about the work and world of sports media.

Think about it. There are plenty of sports and general media uses for Twitter, even if only in 140 character-max entries. I met a reporter at the Society of Professional Journalists conference in Atlanta last year who covered an entire murder trial on Twitter, sending his entries constantly to his office for immediate web-site posting and to any and all other followers trying to keep up with the high-profile murder trial instantly and immediately.

And it worked. When he took a break, when the trial took an adjournment, when the court stopped for lunch, he got hundreds of tweets (twits, whatever), inquiring what was going on, why he wasn't posting anymore, what was the delay. He was stunned, shocked, amazed.

This has sports applications too. Imagine updating instantly on Twitter from a sporting event, any sporting event, from the World Series to your local, urchin soccer game. Hundreds, even millions who couldn't be there or keep up in any other way, might appreciate it. OK, well, not millions and not at the local, urchin soccer game.

OK, I'll buy that. But please, tweeters (twitterers, whateverers) everywhere, please, stop telling me you need help deciding what shoes to wear, what sandals to buy and in what order to perform your daily toiletry routine: Twit, shower, shave; Shower, twit, shave; Shave, twit, shower.

OK, I've got to get back on Twitter. My loyal followerers miss me. Hey, someone's got to hold their hands while they twit, shower, shave.


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Howard Schlossberg is an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago (http://www.colum.edu/) and a sports correspondent for Paddock Publications' Daily Herald (http://www.dailyherald.com/), Arlington Heights, Ill., the only Chicago-area major-metro daily newspaper not operating in Chapter 11. He also serves on the editorial board of and as a contributor to The Journal of Sports Media (www.olemiss.edu/depts/journalism/JSMindex.html).

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