Bye, Bye Barbie - Hello BlackBerry --- Guest Post

Check out my guest post on www.kylelacy.com, author of Twitter Marketing for Dummies.

Bye, Bye Barbie - Hello BlackBerry

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My very first byline and coincidentally, screw up.

Full disclosure:

My sophomore year of college, I was working in my first real newsroom at the Fort Myers News-Press.

I had been shooting a video 2-3 minute highlight videos of high school football games - easy stuff. One day the sports editor, Ed, called me with a new challenge: Taking stats for a football game.

A few things to consider:

1. I knew nothing about football (still don't).
   
2. I had never covered sports before.
3. I had only written one article ever. And it was a 300-word play preview.

"You're a smart girl," he said, "I think you can manage."

Why did I accept?  Well, because I have a serious problem with saying no.

My first fan: NHL/Olympic goalie Olaf Kolzig

In the grand scheme of all things broadcast, my job doing the on-ice interviews during intermissions of ECHL hockey games is one of the least important. I have one minute of air-time twice per game and maybe an extra minute if one of the stars of the game is an Everblade.

Did I mention my boss' advice? "Be brief. Fans want to hear players, not you."

You can imagine my shock when the first time I was "recognized" in public as the on-ice reporter for the team was by NHL goalie and ECHL hall of famer Olaf Kolzig.

Guns, lockdown, elementary schools, hockey players & the power of 140 characters

This afternoon was going to be simple. Play little miss public relations and chauffeur two Everblades players to Gulf Elementary School.

Somewhere in there, word of a man with a gun turned our day upside down.

It's common knowledge among my friends that my driving skills are less than acceptable, so on the drive there I was extremely concerned with keeping the players mildly unscathed.

If I crashed my PT Cruiser and gave former Minnesota Wild first round draft pick A.J. Thelen (who was riding shotgun) another concussion or somehow injured forward Dominic Osman who was half asleep and hungry in the back seat, I had a feeling coach Cameron wouldn't be too pleased with me.

Playoffs are approaching, they need players on the ice... not in the hospital.

After initially wandering into Gulf Middle School on accident (we were greeted with confused looks and 8th grade boys scrambling for autographs), we finally found the elementary portion right up the street.

We walked in and were immediately greeted by a chipper, brunette teacher named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: "Hi guys!"
Osman: "Where's the bathroom?"

We walked through the main office and into the library ("media center" as they call it). The 3rd, 4th and 5th graders were doing an Olympic-themed project, so the teachers recruited some Everblades to come and talk about what it's like to be a hockey player.

As we stood around waiting for kids, all admiring the hockey puck fashioned out of a can of chewing tobacco (Dominic: "That. Is. Brilliant."), the Principal approached us. He was holding his walkie talkie and seemed very concerned.

He turned to me, A.J., Dominic and a photographer from the Cape Coral Breeze who was also along with us.

Principal: "I'm going to ask an odd question. But I really need to know the answer: were any of you just in the boys bathroom?"

Erin Andrews' stalker gets 2 1/2 years in jail

In case you don't already know, ESPN reporter Erin Andrews finally saw justice this week when her peephole stalker was sentenced to 27 months in prison. Ironically, the news of him getting sent behind bars only rehashed the Google searches of "Erin Andrews naked" or "Erin Andrews peephole."

Her entire career is almost completely overshadowed by an obtrusive, mortifying video that she never consented.

If you Google her, images of her body (that don't include her face) show up. Links to the video, links to articles about the video. Without the ESPN logo, there's really no implication she even has a successful career as a college football sideline reporter.

What's the deal with Twitter?

If you see me typing away on my BlackBerry, odds are that I'm not texting. I'm probably tweeting.

Yes, tweeting. Tweeting is the verb used when referring to the social media site Twitter.com. No, its not "twittering," its "tweeting." If you're not familiar with the site, I'm sure the first thing you thought was, "What's so great about Twitter? Its just a bunch of [Facebook] status updates."

Wrong.

The original purpose of Twitter was like status updates - a quick way for all of a circle of friends to stay connected. Study session on the campus library, anyone? Happy hour at Blu Sushi?

However, Twitter has fluidly evolved with how its users communicate and if you know how and when to use it, can be essential in staying connected with in the ways you choose: locally, nationally, even globally.

How I use Twitter:

I have a few core group of friends I know personally, (@danakay, @sarahreaves, @gunk, @burdladii [my mom!], @beachmuscles, @Peter_Murphy, @ccchristopher, @matthewashton,@celisseb, @kpbabyy, @devils_girl23, @lolngiggle, @naticus, @rodrigosbrown, @brewcbaby, @CVClyde, @MarcellaSchmidt, @Keeeer, just to name a few) that I tweet back and forth with daily.

Example:

@caitykauffman: My milk expires today - can I still drink it?

replies:

@brewcbaby: yes
@CVClyde: its probably fine, but dairy is bad for your throat.
@burdladii: yes, milk is good 7 days after the date
@Rodrigosbrown: yesss hurry! unless it smells funny.
@foochuck: smell it first! but you should have a few more days to drink it.
@ccchristopher: god no. I have to finish mine like 5 days before.
@Lindros97: dont drink milk if your sick..makes phlem into sperm-like substance..or....go ahead and drink it!!

You see, had I not consulted my dairy-farmer followers, I very well could have poured the semi-expired milk into my Raisin Bran Crunch (I didn't) and consequently irritated my tonsilitis-infected throat (which, today, feels significantly better. Thank you, followers.)

Aside from avoiding phlegm build-up, Twitter is the quickest way I hear about the latest headlines. I follow @nytimes, @cnnbrk (CNN), @ndn (Naples Daily News), @TIME and @redsoxcast, to name a few.

I follow @redsoxcast, and they gave me play-by-play updates to all the redsox games and final scores.

@cnnbrk was the first way I heard about Michael Jackon's death.

As an intern for Naples Daily News, their Twitter account,@ndn, posts articles (including mine) and when I re-tweet them, they show up in my friends' timelines. More re-tweets = more views on my article.

So, really, Twitter isn't a status update (they recently changed their update prompt from "What are you doing?" to, "What's happening?") but a way to produce and consume the news thats happening around you.

And hey, if you had a fabulous turkey and swiss sandwich on marble rye at the corner deli - tweet that, too.