JC / Railbird

Social Media

Social Media, Pro and Con

The annual TRA simulcasting conference is being held in Saratoga Springs in a couple weeks and I’ve been invited to participate in a panel on social media. While I have a general idea of where the conversation may drift and what points I’d like to make, I’d also like to go into the discussion with other perspectives in mind. To that end, I’d love to hear from fellow fans, either in comments below or via email (railbird [@] jessicachapel [.] com), about what in social media and racing is working — what do you find useful or meaningful? — and what isn’t. I’m particularly curious to hear about perceived limitations, either in what is being done or what is possible …

10/6/09 Postscript: Thanks and much appreciation to everyone who took time to send emails or comment below. The panel will be the morning of Wednesday, October 14. I’ll post a wrap-up and my notes sometime after.

Posted in Media on September 25, 2009 / Tagged Conferences, Facebook, Social Media, Technology, TRA Conference, Twitter, Work

So Simple

… and yet so effective:

I’ve been trying to avoid too many Twitter mentions in this space, even though I believe the micro-service is a disruptive, adaptable form of communication that’s reshaping how networks and groups exchange information, because this is still supposed to be a blog about racing, not social media, but I can’t resist pointing out these recent posts from @NYRAcomm. Each illustrates well how a racetrack can engage its audience in just 140 characters, conveying information directly to the people most interested in it. As a supplemental marketing or news channel, it doesn’t get much better, or much easier.

Posted in Media on March 22, 2009 / Tagged NYRA, Social Media, Twitter

Notes for 2009-03-12

– New York Times turf writer Joe Drape (@joedrape) has joined the mindcasting masses on Twitter, and although it appears he’s still settling into the amorphous medium, his feed has the potential to become an interesting glimpse into how one reporter covers his beat. Drape’s already proven capable of engaging his followers and sparking micro-debates — not a bad start.

– Seattle Post-Intelligencer publisher Roger Oglesby said on Wednesday that Hearst would announce its plans for the newspaper, which has been up for sale and is expected to shut down all operations but its online presence, sometime next week. All 170 employees of the paper have been notified that their jobs will end between March 18 and April 1, including veteran turf writer Larry Lee Palmer, who filed his last column on Monday. Bizarre and despicable, writes Marks Potts of the vague situation.

– Post Parade broke the news earlier this week that turf writer Gary West has been laid off. 3/13/09 Update: West remains employed. “Apparently we still live in the age of miracles,” said the Star-Telegram writer. Guess that means Post Parade won’t become Texas racing’s publication of record on March 21.

– Another Twitter mention, this time for NYRA, which is doing a bang-up job sending out scratches, links and photos, updates on inquiries and spills, etc. through its @NYRAcomm and @NYRAnews feeds. What is the funny little service good for? Anything that can be delivered in 140 characters — Twitter is broadcast, micro-blogging, chat, live search. More tracks would do well to follow NYRA’s lead. (That may be first time I’ve said such a thing — go NYRA.)

– I’m looking for a web developer with strong programming and database skills, experienced in building web applications, to work with on a project. Racing knowledge would be nice, but isn’t required. Please email for details.

Posted in Media on March 12, 2009 / Tagged Newspapers, Social Media, Turf Writers, Twitter, Web Development