May 8, 2009

Everyone Else Jumped Off The Bridge: The Curious Case of College Head Coaches & Twitter...

If you haven't heard of Twitter by now, perhaps you & Helen Keller have some things in common.

If you don't know exactly what Twitter's all about, that's okay. I'm not really sure either. Distilled down as much as possible, its a microblogging service in which you can keep up with friends, family, and whomever else you decide to "follow" via their 140 character updates that they can make as often as they like.

When someone updates via Twitter, its referred to as a "Tweet". You can update your page from your own small, personalized website, or-most popular-via a simple text message from your phone. Most folks also choose to "follow" someone and receive their updates via text message as well.

Yours truly signed up for one right around the New Year, and I honestly just did not find much use for it. That is, until I found out that college football coaches were using Twitter as a means of connecting with recruits, their fanbase, and the world in general.

Of course, my favorite has to be @LSUCoachMiles. LSU's head coach sends out all sorts of interesting things. This past weekend, we found out Miles eldest daughter-nicknamed "Smacker"-finished first in almost all of her events at her swim meet (consequently, I might add that Smacker is in position to make the 2012 US Swim Team & compete for the United States in the Olympic Games in London, England).

We later found out that Coach Miles went to VooDoo Barbecue, afterward, and wanted to go the movies later. I know what some of you are thinking (Did he take a dump once he got home? Will JoePa start Tweeting his gerontologist office visits?), but instead...Think about this. How many times do you get the opportunity to know the head coach of your school's weekend family itinerary?

Earlier this week, Miles mentioned taking the NCAA Recruiting Test and getting that out of the way, as well as talking with future Tigers & spending time with the family.

I'm not sure why, but I'm simply fascinated by these updates. Did any of us as college football fans picture this level of access and connection with our own head coach? Receiving a text close to half a dozen times a day on what he was up to? The details, whether simple and unrelated to football or specific to the program and gridiron grounded, are interesting fare.

Of course, the goal of this service isn't for Les Miles-or any other coach-to be able to express his latent sense of exhibitionism. No, this is yet another way to stay connected to the lifeblood of any program...The recruits. For them to know what's going on, when, where, & how their potential head coach moves through his day, its an appealing prospect for younger set.

Many coaches have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Pete Carroll is just one example of a BCS Conference School Head Man who Tweets often. USC's head coach has over 15,000 other users following him, and his posts are as frequent as one would assume for a man of such frenetic pace and boundless enthusiasm.

I will admit, however, that his "Song of the day! Miss you by the stones... Because I'm missing all the coaches who are out on the road recruiting right now," Tweet from May 6th was a tad on the creepy side, though.

Of course, there are some notable exceptions to the bandwagon. It's not just dinosaurs like Joe Paterno who haven't embraced Twitter, either. Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban is definitely not Tweeting from the looks of things (Is that even him, or a fanboy?)...

Which brings me to my questions...Do you guys think this is just a fad? Will @LSUCoachMiles still be updated regularly by next year? Hell...by next month? Better yet...does this phenomena have an impact on the recruits at all? Is there any advantage to Tweeting that others aren't picking up on? What say you, Fanblogs?

(Author's note: Kevin is hard at work on the redesign here at Fanblogs, and the rumor is that Twitter will be tightly woven into said redesign, both for commenting & contributing. It could result in far more contributions from our commenters, which I think can be a very good thing. I'm just stressing the hell out thinking of how I'll truncate my truculent takes towards folks around here. I mean...140 characters or less? Sheesh!)

Comments:

Everyone Else Jumped Off The Bridge: The Curious Case of College Head Coaches & Twitter...
If you haven't heard of Twitter by now, perhaps you & Helen Keller have some things in common. If you don't know exactly what Twitter's all about, that's okay. I'm not really sure either. Distilled down as much as possible, its a microblogging service in which you can keep up with friends, family, and whomever else you decide to "follow" via their 140 character updates that they can make as often as they like. When someone updates via Twitter, its referred to as a "Tweet". You can update your page from your own small, personalized website, or-most popular-via a simple text message from your phone. Most folks also choose to "follow" someone and receive their updates via text message as well. Yours truly signed up for one right around the New Year, and I honestly just did not find much use for it. That is, until I found out that college football coaches were using Twitter as a means of connecting with recruits, their fanbase, and the world in general. Of course, my favorite has to be @LSUCoachMiles. LSU's head coach sends out all sorts of interesting things. This past weekend, we found out Miles eldest daughter-nicknamed "Smacker"-finished first in almost all of her events at her swim meet (consequently, I might add that Smacker is in position to make the 2012 US Swim Team & compete for the United States in the Olympic Games in London, England). We later found out that Coach Miles went to VooDoo Barbecue, afterward, and wanted to go the movies later. I know what some of you are thinking (Did he take a dump once he got home? Will JoePa start Tweeting his gerontologist office visits?), but instead...Think about this. How many times do you get the opportunity to know the head coach of your school's weekend family itinerary? Earlier this week, Miles mentioned taking the NCAA Recruiting Test and getting that out of the way, as well as talking with future Tigers & spending time with the family. I'm not sure why, but I'm simply fascinated by these updates. Did any of us as college football fans picture this level of access and connection with our own head coach? Receiving a text close to half a dozen times a day on what he was up to? The details, whether simple and unrelated to football or specific to the program and gridiron grounded, are interesting fare. Of course, the goal of this service isn't for Les Miles-or any other coach-to be able to express his latent sense of exhibitionism. No, this is yet another way to stay connected to the lifeblood of any program...The recruits. For them to know what's going on, when, where, & how their potential head coach moves through his day, its an appealing prospect for younger set. Many coaches have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Pete Carroll is just one example of a BCS Conference School Head Man who Tweets often. USC's head coach has over 15,000 other users following him, and his posts are as frequent as one would assume for a man of such frenetic pace and boundless enthusiasm. I will admit, however, that his "Song of the day! Miss you by the stones... Because I'm missing all the coaches who are out on the road recruiting right now," Tweet from May 6th was a tad on the creepy side, though. Of course, there are some notable exceptions to the bandwagon. It's not just dinosaurs like Joe Paterno who haven't embraced Twitter, either. Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban is definitely not Tweeting from the looks of things (Is that even him, or a fanboy?)... Which brings me to my questions...Do you guys think this is just a fad? Will @LSUCoachMiles still be updated regularly by next year? Hell...by next month? Better yet...does this phenomena have an impact on the recruits at all? Is there any advantage to Tweeting that others aren't picking up on? What say you, Fanblogs? (Author's note: Kevin is hard at work on the redesign here at Fanblogs, and the rumor is that Twitter will be tightly woven into said redesign, both for commenting & contributing. It could result in far more contributions from our commenters, which I think can be a very good thing. I'm just stressing the hell out thinking of how I'll truncate my truculent takes towards folks around here. I mean...140 characters or less? Sheesh!)