Twitterific (Update)

Great example of corporate golf twitter use yesterday:

@nikegolf http://pic.gd/7e0f78 @suzannpettersen testing the Nike Method Putter, it reduced her skid distance by 3" as compared to her current gamer

Combining both the specifics of how the Nike Method Putter improved Suzann Pettersen's roll with the putter and providing insight into LPGA Tour star Suzann Pettersen, this type of tweet should, literally, serve as a paradigm for future corporate golf twitter use.

I was disappointed to see that Suzann Pettersen did not follow up on her Twitter account with any reference to the putter, although she did inform her followers that she would be spending the day with the Nike Golf department.

Well played Nike . . .

Anything less would be unexpected from the powerhouse that is Nike.

Twitterific

Last month, Ron Sirak published an excellent article on the use of Twitter by professional golfers. His major contention was:

"The main benefit players derive from Twitter is an immediate connection with their fans. This can also provide another platform on which to promote the various goods and services with which they have lucrative endorsement deals. That makes both the player and the sponsor happy, and it helps cement the bond between the player and the fan. The tweets help to humanize the celebrity."

With the advances of social media, individuals, corporations, and organizations are increasingly able to provide transparency for their constituency (fans). Traditionally, public relations practitioners strive to control the frame in which their organization is viewed; to manipulate, exploit, and portray their organization in a light that best advances a respective cause. In the case of individuals, the ability to send exact, well-conceived messages to an audience permits one to establish a lens for a constituency to view them through; a "cyber-personality" of sorts.



Ultimately, the content of a "tweet" isn't entirely significant, as long as it provides some sort of insight into a golfer's life that a fan wouldn't have access to otherwise. Rather, its significance lies within the perception that an audience gains from it.

For instance, yesterday evening PGA Tour player Bubba Watson (@bubbawatson) tweeted:

Meow a chip n on the plane! #yourwelcome ;-) http://tweetreel.com/?nmaxm

Not only does his "tweet" entail a comical video, but it's equally an advertisement for NetJets.


Similarly, LPGA sensation Michelle Wie (@themichellewie) tweeted after her recent victory:

wooooOoooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

She's also kept her fans up to date with her injured ankle:

Thank you all for your support. I was so sad to pull out from this tournament. I am going to go to my doctor tomorrow to get it checked out

Off to la to see my doctor today and take some Mris and scans. Wish me luck... Then I'm off to Stanford for the big game!! Cheeeheeee

Over the last five years, perhaps no athlete in this country has been vilified to the extent that Michelle Wie has. In her precarious position of maintaining the youthful exuberance which has brought her fame since she was 13 while balancing the desire to portray herself as a mature competitor, it seems that Twitter allows for this dueling proclivity.


I also found a list of the golfers using Twitter.

I can be found on twitter at Michael_R_Ott


Photo(s): Twitter

Mid-week mopiness

When you reach a stage where previewing the Vikings Classic is supposed to be fulfilling, it becomes obvious that you need to look elsewhere -- although I will say that it is that time of year where David Toms usually picks up a victory and I do really like Michael Sims game these days . . .


So, instead . . . listen to this:


DJ Format - A Little Bit of Soul (Via: Armed Snobbery)

And read this and these:

On Monday Jason Sobel blogged about Rickie Fowler and Jamie Lovemark, as well as briefly touched on the tendency today's golf culture is often quick to label young stars as the "next Tiger" (essentially).


Please excuse the commentary, I prescribe to neither their analysis nor their perspectives.

Fowler has a tremendous golf swing, he plays with youthful optimism -- particularly in his putting, and he seems to have the unbridled confidence that most winners have -- and Fowler has won, and won often, at every level he's competed at so far. His golf swing is extremely rounded (Ben Hogan-esque), which is increasingly becoming the modern standard, and he is seriously long (he finished 4th in driving distance at the Frys.com Open -- 307.1 yard average for the week) while only being 5'9" and not particularly broad.

Fowler, has a history of embracing stardom and, now, it appears that his management company is labeling him as the future star of golf -- after all he is Rickie Folwer - Golf 2.0. (Geoff Shackelford)

On a side note, Golfweek published a Herst-esque piece on Fowler.

During Sunday's round at the Frys.com Open, Parker McLachlin, while sitting bored on the fifth tee (his 15th hole of the day) waiting to play he took out his cell phone and tweeted (@ParkerMcLachlin):

"Just made birdie on 4. Waiting on 5th tee. First tweet during a tourney round. Don't want to get too used to this!"

Unfortunately, this violated the PGA Tour's policy prohibiting the use of electronic devices during competition. Ironically, McLachlin commented:

"'Basically, in [Sunday's] round we had a pretty long wait on the back nine sitting on the tee,' McLachlin told ESPN.com. 'The guys that I was playing with [Brad Faxon and Glen Day] were checking football scores and someone yelled out, 'You should tweet about what you're doing right now.' I was like, that's a good idea. I didn't really think too much about it.'"

There's unlikely to be any discipline for McLachlin (Via: ESPN).

Also, the LPGA Tour has new commissioner, Mike Whan  -- hopefully this one won't make politically disastrous suggestions like the last one. (Via: Geoff Shackelford)

President Obama's golf game has received as much media coverage recently as his health care policy has. Not only is Fox News using his 24 rounds played while in office as a talking point against his domestic policy, but he actually played with a woman, Melody Barnes (Chief Domestic Policy Advisor) -- becoming the first woman to play golf with a sitting president.


Sadly, the Prez has had less success in improving his golf swing then he has had in brokering bipartisan legislation.

On a bright note, I'm playing Friday at Blue Top Ridge with missed comrades. Though it's a day of Wilt Chamberlain jokes on the first tee, bloody marys at the turn, and A.D.D. on the back nine, I'm still going to make miles of putts.


Swing hard because it's more fun,


-Michael


Photo(s): Rickie Fowler, Parker McLachlin, President Obama, LPGA Tour, 

Tweeting in Golf

Over the course of the next several months, I'll be exploring the history, traditions, themes, and contemporary practices in golf media.Today, Ron Sirak published an excellent article on the use of Twitter by professional golfers. His major contention is:

"The main benefit players derive from Twitter is an immediate connection with their fans. This can also provide another platform on which to promote the various goods and services with which they have lucrative endorsement deals. That makes both the player and the sponsor happy, and it helps cement the bond between the player and the fan. The tweets help to humanize the celebrity."

With the advances of social media, individuals, corporations, and organizations are increasingly able to provide transparency for their constituency (fans). Ultimately, the content of a "tweet" isn't entirely signficant, as long as it provides some sort of insight into a golfer's life that a fan wouldn't have access to otherwise. Further, twitter, facebook, etc. provide a golfer with the ability to control their own frame which their fans see them through; a sort of cyber-personality.

I also found a list of the golfers using Twitter

I can be found on twitter at GolfMichaelOtt

Photo(s): Twitter