Reaching the masses

Sachin Tendulkar in a photo posted to his Twitter account. Photo / Supplied

Much of it is banal and as illuminating as a solar eclipse but, make no mistake, social media such as Twitter and Facebook are set to remain in sport.

Many of the world's leading sportspeople are already avid users and there is no question some believe using such "new" media - allowing them to communicate directly with fans while boosting their profiles via the internet - is a way to get around bothersome, real-world media obligations.

At the moment, most are using such online communications for reasons of trendiness and because they are part of a generation which has grown up with such things. Some are showing genuine skill.

Like England cricketer Graeme Swann, whose recent euphoria after their World Cup win was expressed with a tweet: "England is beautiful when the sun shines. Not even the goose pooh on my car can dampen my enthusiasm today."

Facebook can provide the same light-hearted insight. Black Cap Jesse Ryder didn't disappoint. Looking up his page, you quickly learn he's a member of the f***k... let's get drunk group, with two u's in the first word for extra emphasis. He's not alone - 1.2 million other people around the world feel exactly the same. Ryder's also linked to groups such as Cougars, State of Origin fights and Pretending to text in awkward situations.

The latter is a technique sportspeople of shy or evasive personality employ when confronted with a phalanx of media or fans. Head down, fingers pretending to text, they wander past, seemingly oblivious to those around them.

His former Black Caps colleague, Iain O'Brien, earned popularity with his much-read blog. O'Brien's blog allowed him to escape without too much of a savaging when he suddenly brought his international cricket career to an end.

Facebook is hard to crack for any real journalistic lines of inquiry because of its privacy measures but Twitter is an easy forum to follow someone's thoughts. It allows people to make 140 character tweets (like text messages), which anyone can sign up to.

However, it is rare to find a sportsperson unleashing strongly-held, sincere opinions.

Last year, All Blacks Neemia Tialata and Cory Jane faced the mild wrath of coach Graham Henry after tweeting (before the team was announced) that they had missed out on the team to play England on the end-of-year tour.

Fortunately, Henry did not put on too much of a headmaster act - at least in public - and in one of the lighter moments of his tenure said he had to "find out what bloody Twitter was," adding he thought "it was the new five-eighth playing for England".

There were also grave concerns athletes - like skiing gold medallist Lindsey Vonn with 35,000 followers - might have their accounts shut down at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. This proved groundless when the principles of free speech were outlined to the IOC, as long as the athletes only blogged about their experiences rather than participated in journalism.

However, there is little doubt such social media websites and online forums are viewed by some as an alternative to face-to-face media commitments.

If resources like Twitter and Facebook are regarded as credible sources, then traditional forms of media could be increasingly squeezed out of the publishing and broadcasting loop or forced to monitor such sources far more than they do now.

The advantages for the users are numerous. They can say they are fulfilling media obligations.

Athletes can avoid difficult lines of questioning on key issues - and can just tweet their own perspective.

Taken to a logical conclusion, if one exists, sportspeople potentially stand to exert more control over what is reported and can avoid being misquoted or having a story taken out of context.

Blues coach Pat Lam's comments after his final post-match Super 14 media conference last weekend are a case in point. Lam responded to a question about whether his side would be capable of playing the standard of rugby that won them the title in 2003.

He said they would, but the story somehow unfairly morphed into a "boast" that they would win the inaugural Super 15.

Alternatively, the carefully stage-managed return of Tiger Woods to top level golf was criticised for shielding him from the majority of the media and the masses - avoiding critical treatment.

Plenty of cricketers circumvent the regular media system.

South African captain Graeme Smith hit back at former skipper and selector Kepler Wessels on Twitter after the Proteas were ousted from the Super Eights stage in the World Twenty20 tournament.

Smith wrote: "Find it amazing that Kepler can sit and say should have picked a younger squad when he was one of the selectors who chose it! Unbelievable!"

Smith backed it up with "at least we own up to playing poorly. But all these so called experts/ex-players, I'm not sure I see a winner's medal hanging round their necks!"

Indian great Sachin Tendulkar has joined the Twitter chorus, going so far as to post a picture of himself about to fall asleep in his own Little Master bedroom.

He opened his account last week and amassed a 24-hour world record of 79,000 followers.

"My kids r happy that I'm finally on twitter," Tendulkar wrote. "They hv been tryin 2 get me 2 join twitter or facebook for ages. I'm still gettin the hang of it."

A random tweet-watch failed to produce any juicy headlines.

Most athletes either tend to paint themselves as witty and wise, while others produce the equivalent of cyber candy-floss.

Tennis player Andy Murray's football obsession was noted. He bemoaned the lack of Fantasy Football now the European leagues have finished but was more upbeat about the British election - "just voted today for the first time. Pumped."

He even spent an afternoon watching it after what he described as "a lovely out of competition drug test ahhhhhh booohoo".

Former England rugby captain Will Carling mixed satirical with sensitive. He remarked on the retiring Justin Marshall: "Some player and drinking partner! Hair gel sales will be badly down in Saracens area tho!" and "Watched Cry Freedom last night with Mrs C. What a powerful film - tears were shed it is fair to say..." and "have wrapped Mrs C's presents, so all ready for her birthday on Thursday. Just hope she likes them."

Hardly riveting stuff but many like it.