Depending on who you ask, Twitter is either a useful tool for the media to tap into topics and conversations regular people care about or it is a bubble that creates an echo chamber for users. One thing is for sure though: it is the sports media’s social platform of choice.

So I wanted to talk to people in charge of stations around the country. How do they want their hosts to utilize Twitter?

Sports is the ultimate interactive format, and we have never had more access to listener opinions. If we learned anything from the message boards of the early 2000s, it’s that the internet is filled with pretend experts and people pushing narratives that aren’t valuable or in some cases, aren’t based in reality. You have to be discerning.

Why is Twitter such a reliable tool for shows and hosts? Can it be used too much? Are there guardrails worth putting in place to determine if a comment or conversation is worth bringing to the air? Here are what four programmers from across the country have to say.

RYAN HANEY – JOX 94.5 (BIRMINGHAM)

Twitter can be a great asset to forward the conversation when used correctly.  Much like audio, phone calls, texts, etc.  – it is all about properly vetting.  It can be a great relationship between hosts and audience when the audience knows that they present something of value to enrich the conversation with the hosts.

CHUCK SAPIENZA – 105.7 THE FAN (BALTIMORE)

I encourage our on-air personalities to utilize Twitter, as long as we are using it to drive station/show content and not respond to specific trolls who are trying to get a rise out of them and bring attention to themselves. Our afternoon drive show, Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman, does an excellent job using Twitter polling to drive the content on their show and well as posting their daily rundown to give fans an idea of who and what is coming up on-air.

I strongly discourage the shows from responding to the negativity, that is unfortunately inevitable, on air. It adds little to the program and makes shows look petty and small. As long as we are in control of our own content twitter can be a great tool. 

RAJ SHARAN – 104.3 THE FAN (DENVER)

Few things make me cringe more than when I hear a host say on-air, “I tweeted this last night,” and use Twitter as a foundation for content. I can’t get too upset with them. Allowing yourself to get immersed into the Twitterverse isn’t difficult. It’s fun, it’s instant gratification and can be severely addicting. But there’s one huge problem: while Twitter is the go-to app for nearly all of sports media, our audience doesn’t use it.

At 104.3 The Fan, our latest scientific research showed only 4% of our listeners use Twitter, compare that to 52% on Facebook and 34% using Instagram. Taking a look at overall usage on the various platforms, Twitter’s approximately 200 million daily users pale in comparison to Facebook’s nearly 3 billion, Instagram’s 1.1 billion and even TikTok’s 700 million. So why have we allowed the platform with the smallest footprint, on which nearly none of our listeners are active, to become the preferred channel of our industry?

My feeling is that its largely been created by the high value we place on opinions from our peers in media, opposed to results from the audience. And make no mistake, Twitter is where media comes together. We’ve all heard the enthusiasm a host has when they receive a positive tweet from the local newspaper columnist or a host at another station. You can’t miss the juicy gossip making the rounds when media members take shots at each other with each quote tweet. Yet, none of that really matters. Sports media is on Twitter, sports media’s audience is not.

In terms of usage, I seldom see hosts around the country using Twitter in a manner to help generate ratings or revenue for their station. Instead of Tweeting their opinion in the moment after breaking news, why not tease something to pay off on their show the next day? What’s stopping hosts from tweeting on-demand links to key points from that day’s show? How often are hosts retweeting posts to content hosted on the station website that can monetized? These are examples of ways we should be constantly encouraging hosts to channel their passion for Twitter in a positive manner for the station. Again remembering it’s a very tiny segment of the audience. Beyond that, we must continuously educate our hosts on the true reach of Twitter. It’s a tool that in some circumstances can be very effective, such as a monitoring breaking news. But because of Twitter’s tiny scope, our host’s time online would be better spent on other platforms, namely Facebook. They’ll reach a much larger group that’s far more important to their success than peers in the media… their audience.

KEVIN GRAHAM – KNBR (SAN FRANCISCO)

I believe it’s up to the talent to determine what’s real, what’s not and if the discussion going on in the Twitterverse can add something to their show.  Can it provide added angles/opinions for the hosts to bounce off from?  Or entertainment that adds to the discussion?  If so, it can add value.  Same can be said for other social media reactions and/or utilizing callers or texts.