His name and the hashtag #Linsanity have trended on Twitter multiple days in the past week. He has added more than 130,000 followers on the network over that time span as well, according to the stat-tracking website Twittercounter.com. He’s added about 40,000 of those followers just since outdueling Bryant on Friday, according to the site. He’s even inspired spinoff accounts, such as the @Linterest page, which provides fictional updates of famous people’s “linboards” in a parody of the white-hot social network Pinterest.
That’s right… I’m talking about Jeremy Lin–the latest hot topic in the social media realm.
It seems that more than a few media professionals are getting themselves in trouble (even fired). In their haste to cash in on the hype, some are simply going too far in their attempts to be clever. They are unfortunately crossing the line. But with social media outlets like twitter and Facebook, sometimes those lines are so blurred that it’s often impossible to see. The ESPN incident was a headline – OK, now that should have been caught by an editor, publisher or SOMEONE before it was published.
ESPN tried to make amends by rushing out this statement: “At ESPN we are aware of three offensive and inappropriate comments made on ESPN outlets during our coverage of Jeremy Lin.”
However, Fox Sports Columnist Jason Whitlock received backlash on a tweet from his personal twitter account, NOT a Fox Sports . The tweet sparked a massive, instantaneous backlash on Twitter. Users lambasted Whitlock, labeled the tweet as racist and called on Fox to fire him. Others said they found the attempt at humor funny.
All this makes me ponder– If you are a media professional, is there even such a thing as a personal social media account? Or is everything you post considered to be views of the publication you are working for?
Now I’ll leave you with this hilarious SNL skit…
