Fun With Technology

December 4, 2008

Hey y’all, MissChatter here for a fun post! Where have I been? Why playing on Facebook, Twitter, and all those other mind-boggling “social network” thingies that keep cropping up all over the place. Google is even getting in on the game by starting their own networking product (which of course, I went and stuck on my lifestream for the heck of it – please join, I’m not even sure how it works!).

At first, I didn’t get these new-fangled things. Of course, there’s not much to get when you don’t have much of a “network” to speak of. But as family, friends, and acquaintances signed on and started using these tools too, they became a lot more fun. I had forgotten I even *had* a Facebook account for a while! Now, I can’t imagine going through a day without it. Initially, my only friends were other sports bloggers in the area, but gradually, my ‘friends’ have become much more diverse and even spilled into other areas of my life. Bonus, I discovered a long lost best friend from high school and we met up for lunch (yep, she even lives near here – what are the odds?!). So what does this have to do with the Nats? Well, it seems a few of them are making it into the 21st century as well.

Ryan Zimmerman gets props for being the first Nationals player I’m aware of to begin blogging, but unfortunately updates only slightly more frequently than his Facebook status line. He also gets props for being the 2nd Nationals player to accept my “friend” request – and from what I’ve observed, he is on his way to rivaling “The Bachelor” Andy Baldwin in friends, approving everyone but never saying anything, unlike Baldwin who updates several times a day.

Then there’s pitcher Collin Balester, who has his own personality-filled “Bally Star” blog on MLBlogs.com. He’s posted halloween costumes, playing in the snow and sand, and answered fan questions all in the past few weeks! His posts have given me a great idea for kicking off spring training and my upcoming photo/video site if he agrees to it. He also has a facebook account judging by Zimmerman’s contacts, but hasn’t answered my question yet ha!

Athletes with blogs and social networks isn’t new to DC, but is fairly new to the Nats. DC Sports Bog and Mr. Irrelevant have widely covered the popular blogs of Wizard Gilbert Arenas (who has even written sensitive family stories) and Redskin Chris Cooley (who had a big “oops” exposing the downside to athletes blogging. Frankly, I saw the photo and couldn’t even see the “item” without looking very carefully knowing it was there!). Even the “real Shaq” is now Twittering! I have to admit some envy of not having an athlete with a wild blog to cover so far, but maybe that will change? Heck, I’d even volunteer to ghost write for Zimmerman since typing doesn’t seem to be his thing — he is a baseball player first, after all.

The athlete blogging/tweeting sensation has been growing over the past few years as noted in this San Diego Union-Tribune article. Some choicy quotes:

2006 Ironman triathlon champion Michellie Jones of Carlsbad, an avid blogger since the late ’90s. ‚ÄúNow everyone has one. If you don’t, you’re back in the dark ages. It’s sort of important.‚Äù

Do you know what your agent is up to on the web? I know of one who blogs and think it’s awesome. More from the article:

‚ÄúFor the high-profile athletes, the agents drive everything. If you don’t have an agent who knows what they’re doing, you may have a terrible Web presence or no presence at all.‚Äù

Athletes see a benefit to getting their own voice out there as well:

‚ÄúUsually, people make assumptions about you,‚Äù Jammer said. ‚ÄúAnd if you don’t want them to make assumptions, put up a Web site and let them know.‚Äù

And most importantly:

‚ÄúIf it’s just some corporate marketing tool, then it doesn’t have any soul or passion behind it,‚Äù Bello, 34, said. ‚ÄúYou can’t fake it. What you see is what you get. It’s got to come from the heart.‚Äù

It’s a wave! Catch it!

Most of these social networking sites offer awesome mobile device interfaces, so users can stay hooked up at all times. Imagine checking your Twitter feed during a game and seeing the recently departed starting pitcher post “My pitches were on tonight! The ump had a tight strike zone, but I kept throwing in the zone” from the dugout while the closer takes over. There are even aggregating browsers to collect all your friends’ information from various networks into one convenient location. Some have dubbed it micro-blogging because most limit you to 140 characters or so. How hard is it to share random tidbits in one-sentence soundbites?

My only dilemma now is that I have so many diverse groups of friends on each network that I’m never sure what to say or who’s going to care?! On Twitter, I have mainly photographers and techie types following me, as well as a handful of friends (mainly Yudites who aren’t terribly active). So do I talk about what I’m doing at work, photography (dull during the off-season), or baseball? Or just random “what am I really doing right now?” kind of stuff? Does anyone really want to experience with me learning to ride a Ripstik? (Totally fun, btw!) On Facebook I have a bunch of media types (partly due to work, partly due to the blogging), coworkers, family, friends, more Yudites, more bloggers, Nats fans, etc. There, I really never know what to say and probably say too much. Even Ryan Zimmerman is my friend there! Lastings Milledge was, but when I tried to tag him in a photo, realized he had unfriended me. Oh the junior high pain of it all! And what’s this thing called Tumblr? Uncle!! I’m not signing up for anything else!

p.s. still trying to figure out if the Wil Nieves commenting on other sites is the real Wil Nieves!

Posted in MLB, Media, Washington Nationals