In the world of social media, sometimes it is better to be either loved or hated than to not be noticed at all. That is how Darren Rovell, formerly of ESPN and now a reporter at The Action Network feels.
Rovell was a guest on the Sports With Friends podcast hosted by Seth Everett and says that he knows that he is one of the most hated people that is currently using Twitter:
“I am one of the most hated people on Twitter. I am reviled. I always say the worst thing is to be someone that people just don’t know if they love you or hate you, you are in the middle. If they love you so much and they follow you or they hate you so much and they follow you, you are in a good place. You are valuable.”
Rovell said that he was one of the first sports journalists to join Twitter and he feels that he was made for the social media platform:
“I want to be relevant and I think I was made for Twitter because for my whole life, I’ve pretty much had a hard head. 2012, I’m now 34 years old or something like that. I was sure of myself. I was ready to battle people and didn’t care as much that they bashed me as long as they kept following me.”
When Rovell first joined Twitter, he told Everett that as a sports business reporter, it helped him figure out what the secondary story was in a quicker fashion and how the platform quickly became part of his identity while at CNBC:
“As a sports business reporter, I have to figure out what the secondary story is. The primary story is the real thing going on. Twitter presented this opportunity where I felt like I cut my time in half finding out what the important story was. It wasn’t about me being one of the originals, it kind of became almost my overarching identity. I embraced it, I didn’t change who I was. Everyday, willing to fight someone for whatever reason.”
While Rovell does not like the adrenaline of being on-air, social media has helped fill the gap because it allows him to keep himself relevant regardless of whether it is because of something good or something bad:
“I do love the adrenaline of being on-air. I’ve since not cared as much about the on-air because of what social media provided. I like to be relevant. I like people to talk about me, whether it’s good or bad. I think that’s what provides my everyday juice in the business.”
Even though Rovell is known for being on Twitter, he does not use the app as much as he used to because of how toxic it can be sometimes:
“It’s so awful. I have been on Twitter less because of it. If you look at my phone, I’m on Instagram more than I am on Twitter. It feels like there is a family and Twitter wants to cancel you everyday. That’s their goal.”
