Following is the Q & A with CBS Sports/NFL Network and Madden NFL football analyst, Charles Davis, which was previewed in the SIDEbar newsletter (thanks for bouncing over). Ian Eagle and Charles Davis return for another year as an NFL on… Read More »Q & A with CBS football analyst, Charles Davis
[This post was previously featured in the June 22, 2021 issue of the gpublicity newsletter, SIDEbar. We repost as college athletics prepares for monumental change in just a few hours.] As we approach July 1 when Name, Image and Likeness… Read More »Social media presents opportunity for young athletes
Like a lot of people who follow and help produce news for a living, some of it was tough to read and hear during the last few months. From sports to politics, the COVID-19 outbreaks got worse, people got uglier… Read More »The best and worst in PR this week
If 2020 was a movie, I would have walked out months ago. From COVID-19 that continues to hammer our communities to social horrors to powerful voices (including congressman, John Lewis, to whom I nod above) silenced too soon, this year… Read More »Sports making necessary trouble
My job is to get businesses or people noticed by their ideal audiences and the media. That part hasn’t changed since most of America began to hunker down in wake of the COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic. How and when to… Read More »PR during a pandemic can be tricky
I remember when we used to jump on social media to argue about bad calls on the court, or debate catch or no catch on the football field. We’d argue them in the gym the next day. That was so… Read More »Defining a catch and other first-world problems … we long for your return
This took me awhile to post. It’s a sensitive topic. I don’t know sports reporter Dan Le Batard, but I felt his passion and purpose when he ranted against a political-turned-racial rally last week. That he spoke in a tone… Read More »Race, sports and Dan Le Batard
New sports seasons are almost upon us and with that, it’s time to start training. Not on the field or court this time, but on smartphones. We live in an era in which 64% all American adults own handsets that… Read More »Coaches, administrators and front office staffs are athletes’ key to sports social media education
It’s not often that I write something relatively Wisconsin-centric twice in a day, but after Milwaukee hosted an NCAA Men’s Basketball Region event that attracted thousands of fans to the city, I felt the calling to add one more. As… Read More »NCAA Basketball Tournament further demonstrates the need and value for a new arena in Milwaukee
You’ve heard the phrase “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say it at all.”
Most of us were taught that lesson before kindergarten, but it escaped some people who hide behind screen names and spew mean-spirited comments on social media pages. Among those frequently targeted are public personalities including professional athletes and media.
While the majorities mind their manners, others who post to social media sites, as sports radio host Dan Patrick says, flex their “digital beer muscles.” You’ve seen (or been) that person. Someone has a couple of cocktails and the ensuing buzz induces liquid courage to say something you regret a day later. People who wish harm to others on social media can’t take it back. It’s online forever. Some, I’m sadly to say, don’t care.
Public trash talk isn’t new
Have we become a more cynical society? I don’t think so (although San Francisco 49ers’ Kyle Williams, who after miscues during a game that could propel his team to the Super Bowl, received Twitter death threats after his team lost to the Giants, might disagree). People have long lashed out, with horrifying and sometimes threatening words. They just did it differently. Personal attacks were unleashed via snail mail, phone calls and lest we forget what still fuels many rants: talk radio. Today, all it takes is the click of a computer key and vitriol is spread among thousands, even millions. It wasn’t right in the past, and it certainly isn’t acceptable to those of us who appreciate others’ thoughts and opinions, now.
Social media is still a great communications tool
If social media users behave so badly, you might think that I steer clients away from using the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and the rest. Not a chance! I maintain that social media, when used productively and purposefully, is the best way to communicate with audiences, build and enhance brands, establish and reengage with like-minded professionals and read quick takes from others, than anything we’ve had in the past.
Read More »When social media is cruel, keep communication lines open