TWITTER: BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN FANS AND PLAYERS Greg, 19/06/11
This season has seen the rise of a new
#movement – the Tweeting footballer. The social network site has
taken off in recent years, and is now used by companies, celebrities
and us normal people as a way of letting all of our 'followers' know
just what we are doing and thinking in 140 magic characters. However,
players have managed to get themselves into Twitter trouble this
year, by criticising referees, fans or their own clubs, revealing
team news earlier than they should and posting inappropriate
photographs (amongst other things). Some managers such as 'Arry
Redknapp would prefer their players to stay away from such sites, but
having just downloaded the official Rio Ferdinand App, it's safe to
say we are not in that camp. So just what are the benefits of
footballer's Tweeting? Is it good for the game or are Redknapp and
Ferguson right?
In days gone by, and as recently as ten or fifteen years ago, a kid could stand outside the stadium on a match day or at the training ground through the week and wait for an autograph. If you bumped into a player on the street you could stop him and chat, or shake his hand and wish him luck for the weekend. Journalists could give the club captain a ring one evening and have a chat about preparations for the next game. Those days are gone.
Nowadays, if you wait outside the stadium you'll get moved on by security. If you wait outside the training ground you'll more than likely be mown down by a 4x4, though you won't know who is driving it as they will be hidden behind a Von Dutch hat and a tinted windscreen. A journalist will now need to schedule an interview by going through a club press officer, and even then they will often just be told which player they can speak to, rather than the other way round.
An accusation often levelled at today's all-seater, Super Sunday shiny Premier League is that the game has lost touch with the fans. Given what we've just said, it would appear that this is the case. This is where Twitter steps in.
Most football fans don't care what Jack Wilshere looks like on his holidays. Most really aren't bothered which horse Michael Owen thinks will win at Ascot. But many are. We are in an era where players are treated as Hollywood stars with minders, 24-hour security and agents who answer their phones for them. A fan is very unlikely to ever get close to his favourite player, so getting a glimpse into their lives (from their own perspective) is a rare privilege. The new generation of football fans don't know any different – Twitter is their medium of interacting with their idols.
Press conferences and interviews today can seem very vanilla, with the same old clichés coming out again and again. Twitter can relieve some of this boredom – just follow Joey Barton and you'll find out how. We usually only see two sides of a footballer – on the pitch as a player, and off it standing in front of a board of sponsors giving bland sound bites to a journalist asking repetitive questions.
Let's cut the snobbery and embrace Twitter as a way of getting to know the people behind the media savvy robots that club press officers want us to see.
Twitterati Ultimate XI
Fun Stuff
In days gone by, and as recently as ten or fifteen years ago, a kid could stand outside the stadium on a match day or at the training ground through the week and wait for an autograph. If you bumped into a player on the street you could stop him and chat, or shake his hand and wish him luck for the weekend. Journalists could give the club captain a ring one evening and have a chat about preparations for the next game. Those days are gone.
Nowadays, if you wait outside the stadium you'll get moved on by security. If you wait outside the training ground you'll more than likely be mown down by a 4x4, though you won't know who is driving it as they will be hidden behind a Von Dutch hat and a tinted windscreen. A journalist will now need to schedule an interview by going through a club press officer, and even then they will often just be told which player they can speak to, rather than the other way round.
An accusation often levelled at today's all-seater, Super Sunday shiny Premier League is that the game has lost touch with the fans. Given what we've just said, it would appear that this is the case. This is where Twitter steps in.
Most football fans don't care what Jack Wilshere looks like on his holidays. Most really aren't bothered which horse Michael Owen thinks will win at Ascot. But many are. We are in an era where players are treated as Hollywood stars with minders, 24-hour security and agents who answer their phones for them. A fan is very unlikely to ever get close to his favourite player, so getting a glimpse into their lives (from their own perspective) is a rare privilege. The new generation of football fans don't know any different – Twitter is their medium of interacting with their idols.
Press conferences and interviews today can seem very vanilla, with the same old clichés coming out again and again. Twitter can relieve some of this boredom – just follow Joey Barton and you'll find out how. We usually only see two sides of a footballer – on the pitch as a player, and off it standing in front of a board of sponsors giving bland sound bites to a journalist asking repetitive questions.
Let's cut the snobbery and embrace Twitter as a way of getting to know the people behind the media savvy robots that club press officers want us to see.
Twitterati Ultimate XI
Fun Stuff
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...