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January 5th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda As one of ESPN’s most ubiquitous television personalities, pro football reporter Adam Schefter is easily recognizable to sports fans all over America. Surprisingly, though, it’s not always Schefter‘s TV work that fans bring up when they spot him in airports or cafes.
“Literally the first thing a lot of people say is, ‘Hey, I follow you on Twitter!” Schefter said in an interview.
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With more than 1.2 million followers, Schefter ranks as one of sports media‘s most dominant presences on Twitter.
But his extreme online popularity also shows how the still-evolving shift from one-way communication channels to wide-ranging interactions enabled by social media has particularly extended into sports reporting. It’s a transformation that is reshaping both how reporters do their jobs and how they become recognizable to their audiences.
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“I call it the modern day Q Score,” says ESBL Social Media Coaching founder Jeff Weiner, who helps Schefter land endorsement partnerships with brands such as Vizio and Brut. “My biggest pitch isn’t that he’s on TV a lot, because a lot of guys are on TV. My biggest pitch is how many Twitter followers he has in relation to his peers. It means that people like him, that they care about what he has to say and that he’s relevant.”
While extreme, Schefter’s Twitter success is largely based on a few key attributes shared by other sports reporting peers who also do well online.
He tweets breaking news frequently. He offers quick, relevant analysis. He gives the occasional witty opinion or link to non-sports news of interest. And he works for a major media outlet with a large, pre-existing audience.
But for most reporters — as with other celebrities and public figures — Twitter’s main appeal is its value in fostering conversation with fans and readers.
Chris Mortensen, who also covers the NFL for ESPN and told Mashable that the importance of Twitter to his career is significant “and rising,” uses the network to solicit public input for on-air shows. And colleague J.A. Adande uses the social forum to see what drives conversations and has an impact on fans.
“During games, Twitter serves as a giant sports bar, where people react to great plays or bad calls and question coaching strategy,” he said in an email.
Adande also said that he actively seeks out interactions with his readers, because “I think people on Twitter want to be engaged, not just talked at.”
For Schefter, that interactive engagement has had benefits beyond just his hordes of followers. He said that he has received “probably thousands of tips via Twitter,” and that he doesn’t check out each one but has actually gotten to hot stories early thanks to reader input.
“Everybody in this day and age has a little reporter in them,” Schefter said.
As he and his sports reporter colleagues continue to follow — and forge — the developing path of Twitter’s impact on their industry, Schefter plans to continue with the combination of determination and flexibility that has so far gained him more than a million followers since he joined the social network two and a half years ago. But he said he knows it will remain an integral part of his work.
“All I do is try to work as hard as I can and as well as I can and let it go where it will go,” he said.
Check out the accompanying slideshow for a rundown on who some of sports media’s biggest Twitter stars are and the reasons for their success. Then share with us in the comments: Who do you like to follow? Why?
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, LUGO
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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