It’s not you – it’s me.
I watch a lot of sports on TV. I’m a huge Hockey Fan, a F1 Fanatic, and at this time of the year I LOVE watching every minute I can of the Tour de France. That’s a problem because I also like to watch these things when I have time on my DVR. I don’t mind, and actually prefer to watch these things when I want, just as long as I don’t know the outcome.
For Hockey that usually means just an hour or so behind. Games in the east start at 4PM Pacific while I’m still hard at work.
For Formula 1 that means whenever. Depending on where in the world the race is the live broadcast is usually something like 4AM Pacific. I need my beauty sleep, so sometimes Practice, Qualifying and the actual race have to wait until bed time.
For the Tour de France the live broadcast starts in the wee hours here. The good thing is that it’s 5 hours of programming for each of the 21 stages. I can manage to catch a bit of the beginning when I wake up but then it’s time to get work done so the rest sits on the DVR waiting till 5 Pm or later when I can get back into it.
F&(^#$@&%!
The system works fine until one of my friends decides to live tweet or facebook the game (or race).
Matt is a dear friend and loves to watch games while on a commenting on the ‘second screen’ (i.e. Facebook, Twitter).
What’s important to note is that Matt didn’t tag me, didn’t mention me, didn’t CC me – he just made a public post.
THE PROBLEM IS ME
I follow him, and have him on a list. That’s a good thing. I’ve always known Matt was a hockey fan. That’s a good thing too. I’ve learned (the hard way) that during the Hockey Season to take Matt off my list so that he can’t accidentally ruin the game for me. I’ll miss Matt but that’s the right fix.
I can’t expect to change Matt and how he uses Social Media. If I did what would next? Asking all those people to stop posting generic Happy Birthday cut and paste messages? Ask all those ActiveRainer’s to stop their ‘Bookmarked for later’ comments? Asking people to stop inviting me to their open house event (3,000 miles away)? Like that’s ever going to happen, eh?
The change has to come from me (or technology) but either way it has to start on my end.
I AM NOT A SOCCER FAN
Yeah, it’s a lot like Hockey but the sport never grabbed me. Go ahead and spoil all the soccer results you like, it won’t darken my day.
But here’s the thing. During this World Cup thing I’ve seen so many of my friends (who I had no idea were raving soccer fans before), suddenly become Profile Changing, Cover Image Changing, Live Status Updater’s. There should be a acronym for that. But hey, Social Media is pretty cool that way.
Is it just good PR? Are people catching World Cup Fever? The basics of any professional sport is to create buzz and fans and I think they are doing a great job of it. And while this is cool and all – it’s got me nervous.
VERY NERVOUS…
We’re five days into the Tour and I don’t have a clue who the next TDF fan is going to be. I know some cycling friends and it’ll be easy to move them off my list for the month of July but what about everyone else? I can’t just go off social media for the month. I can’t ask people NOT to post results. It’s need an algorithm. I need a filter.
THE ANTI SPOLIER SETTING
Wouldn’t it be great if Facebook allowed me to set something so that I didn’t have to hide certain people? Just a quick little setting that hid anyone or anything that happened to mention Tour de France? Even if they just give me 24 hrs of buffer. They could so easily do this.
Hey, it’s not just me. It’s you too. (I’m just thinking of you)
You know that great series you are totally hooked on right now? What if some friend of yours binge watches to the super climatic end and then…
See, it’s not just sports. What do you do?
I’ll be accepting all calls from Facebook and will be happy to lead the development of this great new feature.
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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