The Value of Twitter to Journalists

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By Matt Clark

I just had an interesting conversation with Dr. Pauly from Tao of Poker.  We were all hanging out in the Caesars sports book after the AMAZING VILLANOVA WIN (I think I chain smoked 10 cigs in the last 5 minutes). 

Pauly was twittering during the entire Dream Team Poker event today.  For the first time he opted in for mobile updates on a few other players he knew were doing the same.  “This is definitely going to help me write my posts,” he said.  “I can go back and reference hand play and bust outs.”

If what Pauly says is true, Twitter is making journalists jobs easier.  Brands can use Twitter to not only engage customers, but also use it as another PR vehicle to update journalists.  This adds another component to Twitter, making it more valuable to companies, and something that PR firms should suggest to clients (more work for me…damn it). 

I decided to ask a few poker journalists what they thought.

Courtney Harrington of PokerRoad wasn’t as convinced.  “It’s interesting and adds good buzz for companies,” he said.  “But it could be just a fad for now, we’ll see…”

Matt Showell of PokerListings said that following poker players during tournaments helps him write his articles.  But as far as companies Twittering, the jury is out.  “If companies Twitter in the right way its helpful.  They have to join the conversation and not just bombard people with promotions.  It takes a lot of resources,” Showell commented.

“Tweets help you collect perceptions.  It adds the first person point of view for a story,” added Gary Wise of Wise Hand Poker and ESPN.com.  “I haven’t really used Twitter in my work so far, but I see the value.”

Matt Parvis of Bluff Magazine echoed Showell’s thoughts.  Parvis said that Tweeting is booming in poker right now and makes it easier to do stories.  Instead of waiting for a third party to give him player updates, he can get them right from the source.  On the flip side, he doesn’t want a company pushing promotions in his face. 

So there it is.  It’s better for company individuals to Twitter instead of the company as a brand.  Personally, I don’t really want to know that Banana Republic has a new shirt out.  On the flip side I love when Starbucks tells me about specials.  (mmmm… Starbucks).  A few CEO’s are doing this successfully.  One that comes to mind is Jason Calacanis (@techgurus & @JasonCalacanis), founder of Mahalo.com.  He also

Social media continues to show soft results and value for companies.  However, PR firms need to find better measurement before getting full buy in from their clients.  We still can’t say, “Twittering and blogging will increase you business by X percent.”  Hell, we still can’t track exactly how many people are reading tweets…

But if you’re a poker player, start twittering now.  Go. Now. Do it.  Hurry.  Because in about a week every poker player out there will be twittering and the market will be saturated…

Other Updates:  I just won $100 on the Villanova game and plan on loosing it tonight on the poker table.  Today is my birthday and I plan on being whylen out in Vegas tonight.  Dan and Pauly from Team Tao of Pokerati got knocked out a few hours ago, but are still sticking around the tournament and casino.  I don’t know why.  I think they have a problem… I just had dinner in the Caesars employee’s dining room and had a college flash back.  The quality of food was just as bad.  They were playing Lady GaGa’s PokerFace in the back before.  God I hate that song, but it’s so damn catchy… Shout out to Pokerati for posting this borderline “That’s soooo wrong” video…