Sports Then and Now

OchoCinco knows twitter.

All I have to say is WOW! T.O. tweeting about the Buffalo Bills draft pick signing before Adam Schefter from ESPN reported it. Chad OchoCinco tweeting about his FG kick and kick off against New England and doing it literally within seconds of the game ending (who knows, he may have had a waterproof IPhone in the shower).

I had a bad case of insomnia last night, so I tuned into Ocho video streaming from the Bengals team plane! Great content, especially Ocho’s commentary about the Panini he was eating (HBO’s Hard Knocks must love this guy). It’s rubbernecking at its finest, sometimes you just gotta look!

We are in the rubber age of social media! You just turn your head one way and see Larry Fitzgerald talking about practice in preparation for his game against the Bolts.  You turn another and there is Maurice Jones Drew tweeting about his son being faster than Usain Bolt.  Sensory Overload!

My Twitbin is scrolling faster than the marquee in Times Square. Twitbin is a great application for Firefox that allows you to monitor your tweeting friends in a window on your browser. It could be the best or worst thing ever created. It all depends how you use it! You thought Guitar Hero or Rock Band messed your eyes up!

Since I have been laid off from my job, I have immersed myself in social mediums such as the aforementioned Twitter, FaceBook, Digg, Ball Hype, and blogging on such sites as Boston Sports Then and Now (I recommend checking out the Cup of Joe blogs) and Trufan.com.

The power of social media is immeasurable. I can literally post my blog on dozens of sites with the click of a mouse. I can Digg or Ballhype these posts so my rankings on Google will be higher. I tweet my site’s newest stories at  bossprtsthennow in seconds and have formed a Facebook fan site.  This all can be done in about 1-2 hours a day (considering I have free time between job hunting excursions).

Being a marketer by trade, these technologies intrigue me, puzzle me, scare me, and excite me all at the same time. I am excited to use these tactics to build awareness and fanfare for the sites I market or the blogs I passionately write.

I am scared and sometimes disturbed about all of the information that is divulged and shared by people. A NY Knicks player is tweeting about his arrest? Are you kidding me? Commissioner Goodell banning NFL players from tweeting on the side during the games. This makes Spygate look pretty harmless now doesn’t it? Do we have to confiscate all of the players Blackberries and IPhones before a game?

Technology has changed our lives and the sports we love.  Social Media back in the days of Ted Williams, Larry Bird, and Bobby Orr was an off color comment in an interview or a picture of them smoking or drinking. Everything else was pretty much behind closed doors unless it got leaked out. There is no shield anymore including athletes who did something politically incorrect because their face and name will be up on YouTube or Twitter before the 11 o’clock news.

Play hard. Play Smart. Tweet Smart.

You can check out Joe’s regular blog “Cup of Joe” every Tuesday and Thursday on Boston Sports Then and Now.