JC / Railbird

Twitter

Online Only

Pull the Pocket points to interesting news on the sulky side: The magazine Harness Edge is going online only beginning in August, a move its publisher is phrasing in positive terms:

“No longer will be there be a subscription charge. And the new format is a major bonus for advertisers because there are no longer limitations. Anyone, anywhere in the world can view the publication which means unlimited exposure,” said publisher Harold Howe.

“Now that there are no printing or mailing costs we are able to dramatically reduce advertising charges. In this embattled economy that is terrific news for the Standardbred horse industry.”

While merely the latest in what’s an ever-growing general list of print publications shifting to web-only models due to cost pressures and declining revenues, Harness Edge is the first publication in racing, thoroughbred or harness, to make the jump.

In other web news: Noticed this a few days ago, but NYRA announced today that house handicapper Andy Serling can be found on Twitter. According to the press release, “Serling’s Twitter entries will use the hashtags #belmont, #saratoga, and #aqueduct depending on to what track the tweet pertains. There will also be messages with hashtags corresponding to other NYRA topics, such as #travers and #alabama.” Savvy! What’s not is that Serling isn’t (yet) following a single tweeter back. Maybe once he settles in …

Speaking of Twitter, DRF makes its first foray onto the service with @DRFInsidePost, the feed for its new blog, Inside Post, which promises “real-time racing information” Wednesday through Sunday. So far, the DRF handicappers and reporters contributing to the site are showing a lot of gusto for the live-blog form. It’ll be interesting to see if they (or their readers) can keep up such an enthusiastic pace five days a week.

In other racing news: Now that Rachel Alexandra is declared for the Haskell, Monmouth has a new goal for its big summer race. “Now that we have Summer Bird and Rachel Alexandra,” said track president Bob Kulina, “we’re going after Mine That Bird again.” A rematch, all three? That would be must-see.

Posted in Media on July 15, 2009 / Tagged Harness Edge, Harness Racing, Magazines, Twitter, Web Publishing

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