Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Cutler's a quitter. Heard it on Twitter.

Today at 6am mountain, some 36 hours after the NFC Championship Game, the lead on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning was Jay Cutler. As I sat down to tap this out, the lead on The Dan Patrick Show was...wait for it...Jay Cutler.

There are two reasons why it remains the lead sports story of the day.

1. Show producers decide what's the lead.
2. Twitter apparently has a profound effect on show producers.

We flash back to Sunday when Cutler is pulled from the game with a knee injury. Does it matter he tried to play with the injury in the 3rd Quarter? Nope. Does it matter he's a Type 1 Diabetic? Nope. Does it matter that his coach and teammates support him? Nope.

What matters is that several current and former NFL players called him out on Twitter. During the game. Most of it was along the lines of "They'd have to drag me off the field before I'd quit" variety of Tweet. Cutler's actions on the sideline, or lack thereof contributed to what became a Twitter Firestorm, with Tweets coming in every second.

So at least in the sports world, Cutler remains the lead.

Yesterday on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, Tony Kornheiser called Twitter a "Plague." Jay Cutler likely agrees.

For better or worse, if you doubt the power of Social Media, (There's a movie about it) you might want to stop doubting and start believing. Does your company or organization have a Social Media Plan in place? If not, why not? It can help you if you're the lead story, whether it's a good story or a bad one.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (And help you manage that conversation when someone else starts it)

No comments:

Post a Comment