Friday, March 11, 2011
Whatever the result in Cardiff tomorrow, expect the mobile networks to creak under the weight of online messages in its wake.
I READ recently that the enigmatic Hollywood comedy star Bill Murray likes to creep up behind strangers in mid-town Manhattan, then reach around, cover their eyes and utter "guess who".
He’ll wait for the smiling pedestrian to turn slowly around and as recognition dawns, the star of Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, whispers: "No one will ever believe you," before melting into the New York foot traffic.
Clearly, journalists are no film stars (though... a pharmacist recognised my byline on a prescription recently!) but I often sit behind those reading the Irish Examiner on trains or in restaurants and study how you, the reader, consume the newspaper.
Some of you weirdos gulp down the sports section immediately, devouring news of hamstrings or opinion pieces from former players. I imagine you were the same children who ruined your dinners with illicit Whippies or couldn’t help but find the Christmas presents in early December.
Others start at the masthead over the front page and zig-zag through the news pages methodically like it’s an a la carte menu, before drinking in the longer features and everything else.
The crossword is often a sweet dessert.
Those in sharp pinstripes and polished leather shoes fold the pages towards the business section directly. No fuss.
If you’re reading this column on public transport or in Cork Coffee Roasters on Bridge Street, turn around slowly: guess who.
The slow march to the world of the online however allows those like me to study more closely just how the news is consumed. Like Rafa Benitez pouring over binders brimming with OptaStats which detail Stevie G’s yardage or Declan Kidney studying figures which indicate just where the ball went and where it was ultimately lost, we can now see what brings you here — and let’s you slip away into the crowd.
The future is now, ladies and gentlemen.
Where before you may have found your way to this corner of the newspaper in the usual physical way, more and more Twitter is their gateway to journalism. We’d better keep it well oiled.
Ireland’s sports stars are doing their bit for the social networking site. As Woody Allen said: Take Jamie Heaslip. No seriously, take him.
The Leinster man, an inveterate Tweeter, changed his avatar — or picture — on his profile this week.
The Ireland No 8 posted a lovely image of himself curled up in a corner of the Millennium Stadium dressing room with the Triple Crown shield seemingly discarded next to him as he cradles the Six Nations trophy.
By his bare feet on the locker room bench lies a smart-phone, no doubt vibrating with congratulations.
If Ireland lose tomorrow however, Heaslip will pick up that phone and read message after message of discord from — admittedly moronic — Ireland supporters. And knowing Heaslip, he’ll tweet back.
I was part of a discussion with a sports management consultant recently in which we talked about the phenomenal uptake of Ireland’s athletes in social media. He admitted — if that’s the right word — that he and his colleagues encourage players to get online. Offer your fans a bit of yourself, reveal some character, build trust and later — boom! — throw in a few commercial tweets.
Brian O’Driscoll, Tommy Bowe, and Cian Healy and the aforementioned Heaslip regularly log in with their thousands of followers on the site. But after the nervy win in Edinburgh last time out they had to scroll through a barrage of negative comments; no one was in the mood to hear about the new Lexus, it seemed.
"If u got something bad to say, go somewhere else or unfollow," Heaslip wrote, ... "really don’t have time for it. results matter, always said that. Laters".
Healy, whose username is, wonderfully, ProperChurch, followed his team-mates’ lead. "Yes, I am happy, we won... so take your negativity elsewhere please... or don’t bother following, and thank you to the majority."
Tommy Bowe seems like one of those incessantly happy and loyal Labradors. Despite the awful abuse endured, he tweeted: "Happy with win, results are what’s important... Like to keep you on edge of your seat though!!"
Though the internet has kicked a soapbox to anyone with an opinion — like Spiderman learned — with great power, comes great responsibility.
Whatever the result in Cardiff tomorrow, expect the mobile networks to creak under the weight of online messages in its wake. And if you do decide to add your voice to the white noise of snap judgement, don’t do it with you hands covering the players’ eyes.
- Adrian@thescore.ie Twitter: @adrianrussell
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