News Of The Tweet: Team Sad Sacks Conquered The World, Virtually
By Seb Kemp
It started like this...
...but with the help of a little bit of this...
...and this...
...and this...
...while thinking some of this...
...and seeing a little of this...
...and riding some of this...
...they hammed it up or played it down...
...until the job was done...
...like really done...
...and they even consider doing this.
That's right, @bikemag's very own @bricemag and @morga_deth took on the @BC_BikeRace and won. No, the didn't win the title of fittest and most deranged rider in BC that week, but they did win their own battle. Not against each other, not even against themselves, but the battle to hold down a full-time job while getting pummeled by some of BC's finest singletrack.
Despite having to "endure" long days in the saddle and "coping with" mile after mile of sublime singletrack, short nights under canvas, and slap up meals in the company of 500 other keen trail hounds, Team Sad Sack still managed to cover the race for all of us unlucky sods who weren't in the fold of British Columbia's bosom.
Throughout the week they were both tweeting and Instagramming up a storm. If you followed #goteamsadsacksgo or any of their accounts you could follow their progress in almost real time.
And while they also wrote daily reports from the front line, the most remarkable thing was that two chaps were wondering around in the wilderness of BC while being sat, not literally, on each of our desks.
We could follow their ups and downs, the highs and lows, the successes and failures. We could share sniggers and laughs with the things they saw along the way. We could wish them well while they wished it would end. It was like reality TV but without a puppeteer producer making them say something they wouldn't and will regret later, or a sly editor cutting the tape and dropping the context to make more scandal.
Twitter is our reality entertainment and butler for information. @bricemag and @morga_deth proved this last week. Sure, the information and news we were able to glean from Team Sad Sacks twitterings - and those of Twitter in general - isn't BBC quality journalism but it isn't meant to be. It isn't dodging bullets on the front line and beaming the report back, but it is getting the perspective of individuals, right there, right now.
Faster than lighting and beamed around the world, Twitter let's us in on the right now of other's lives. This is a radical shift. It has been coming on for a while, but now, without a doubt, it is here.
No wonder that top flight athletes are asked to sign up and speak up. No longer is it enough to do the hard work and let the rest do theirs, now everyone professional is expected to be an entertainer, promoter, broadcaster, ambassador and loud hailer.
Getting covers is part of the job for a pro but there is also this...
And this...
Which is hoped to end in this...
But now Twitter has the capacity to do so much more.
So much so that you better have a strategy for it, either to harness the power or prevent the near instantaneous backlash of negativity.
And remember, the cost of social media is tiny when it goes well but huge when it goes bad. So you may as well pay a fortune for some help along the way. [insert stupid winking emoticon]
