I did an interview yesterday for a grad student who was doing a thesis on sports blogging, social media and the dichotomy between fans today and twenty years ago.
It ended up being an opportunity where I actually learned more about myself, our community at MMO and social media as I knew it to be. I found myself giving responses that I didn’t expect and I guess that’s the beauty of not knowing the questions ahead of time.
When I was asked about the similarities between those who comment on MMO and the fan base as a whole I said that one had absolutely nothing to do with the other.
I believe that average Met fans and the vast majority of them don’t comment or tweet. Instead, they prefer to just sit back and read the articles and move on.
When asked to describe our comment section I felt it was the exact same atmosphere as I see on this phenomenon known as “Mets Twitter.” (I never drew that comparison before.)
You have thousands of followers, but most of them don’t tweet. The ones that do, much like the ones that comment here, can be divided equally into 2-3 factions.
Two of the factions have hard core lines that they hold dearly to. They can spend hours and hours trying to one-up each other and doing whatever the can to win these tiny spats they create for themselves to occupy their free time. No side ever really wins. It’s kind of hilarious when you think about it… But I give them all credit for their passion and the courage of their convictions.
Every news item from a Mets beat writer or even just baseball in general, and they all feel the need and the obligation to weigh in. Arguments ensue, with each side believing the other to be completely clueless on the matter.
There’s also a third group, a smaller one, who thinks they are completely apart from all that. They frequently make these Yoda-esque types of tweets or comments, believing that they’ve said something truly profound. They see themselves as being above the fray and not a part of it. But not really. I think it’s funny, actually…
When it was all over, I found myself realizing that our MMO comment section was “Mets Twitter” years before there ever was a Mets Twitter. 🙂
