JessN: Asking for feedback: Twitter/X on gamedays...

[JessN]

For many seasons now we've done the TideFans.com Live Tweet (or is it Live X now?) for most games. Typically we offer more content for the home games than the away games due to staffing. We offer up probably 5-10 posts per quarter and then do a wrap-up at the conclusion of every quarter. Our Twitter/X handle for this is @TideFansJessN.

I'm sure a lot of you have noticed that Elon Musk has stated an intention to begin charging all X users for access to the platform. If that were to occur, we will likely sunset the TideFans.com Live Tweet. I don't believe a lot of users will transition to a paid service, and we don't get enough use out of it here to justify the expense.

I'm trying to get a handle on what other mediums exist. One of the options is to simply roll what we do into the Official Gameday Thread here on the Football forum, but that will depend highly on the internet service status inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. For years, even accessing Twitter was next to impossible inside the stadium, and TideFans.com takes significantly more bandwidth to access on mobile than X does.

I don't relish the thought of having to migrate from X to another social media platform, however, and one of the big issues there is that Twitter-style alternatives are heavily weighted politically. Mastodon vs. Truth Social, etc. I don't have enough time during games to be posting on multiple sites at once, so we'd need to find something that has both a decent following as well as be apolitical enough not to lock out Bama fans along those lines.

Regardless, I wanted to give everyone here a heads-up, because Musk usually doesn't waste a lot of time making decisions like this and it could all come to pass very quickly.

 

[B1GTide]

Maybe have your own game thread locked down from posting from others? I would certainly "tune in". I am done with Twitter because of the implemented and proposed changes.

 

[Cruloc]

I concur, have your own gameday thread locked on Tidefans. I think most here would be following that thread.

 

[lowend]

I haven't really gone to Twitter since Cecil passed; however, the Threads platform did seem much more sane than twitter when I played with it after its launch.

 

[GulfCoastTider]

I have a hard time keeping up with the game thread and the signal to noise ratio there is... dim, at best.

A locked thread with a keen analyst's perspective would be a Godsend.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Other than TideFans, I don’t have a social media account of any type. Never have, never will.

I do like the idea of a locked Gameday thread where only you post. If you go that direction, I’d also be open to a very limited group of well-known knowledgeable posters that can present objective analysis — gtgilbert, for example.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Other than TideFans, I don’t have a social media account of any type. Never have, never will.

I do like the idea of a locked Gameday thread where only you post. If you go that direction, I’d also be open to a very limited group of well-known knowledgeable posters that can present objective analysis — gtgilbert, for example.

Same for me. I only have Tidefans. I used to have facebook, but left when I realized everyone I know is racist, crazy, weird, family, or all of the above.

 

[JustNeedMe81]

For many seasons now we've done the TideFans.com Live Tweet (or is it Live X now?) for most games. Typically we offer more content for the home games than the away games due to staffing. We offer up probably 5-10 posts per quarter and then do a wrap-up at the conclusion of every quarter. Our Twitter/X handle for this is @TideFansJessN.

I'm sure a lot of you have noticed that Elon Musk has stated an intention to begin charging all X users for access to the platform. If that were to occur, we will likely sunset the TideFans.com Live Tweet. I don't believe a lot of users will transition to a paid service, and we don't get enough use out of it here to justify the expense.

I'm trying to get a handle on what other mediums exist. One of the options is to simply roll what we do into the Official Gameday Thread here on the Football forum, but that will depend highly on the internet service status inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. For years, even accessing Twitter was next to impossible inside the stadium, and TideFans.com takes significantly more bandwidth to access on mobile than X does.

I don't relish the thought of having to migrate from X to another social media platform, however, and one of the big issues there is that Twitter-style alternatives are heavily weighted politically. Mastodon vs. Truth Social, etc. I don't have enough time during games to be posting on multiple sites at once, so we'd need to find something that has both a decent following as well as be apolitical enough not to lock out Bama fans along those lines.

Regardless, I wanted to give everyone here a heads-up, because Musk usually doesn't waste a lot of time making decisions like this and it could all come to pass very quickly.

Consider doing a fb game thread or Threads, alternative to Twitter.

 

[BamaNation]

@JessN : We can do a locked down thread that only you and any select others would post in providing the same type of content as is now done on in your twitter feed. You would just create it as usual and lock the post but you (and the TBD select few) would still be able to post in it.

Here's my take on gamethreads:

Most are watching the game live and using the game thread as a running commentary to have a shared community even though we're not at the game or watching in a sports bar.

Some are unable to watch the game live and use the game thread to keep up with the game in quasi-real time.

I don't like game threads just being a "down and distance" thread and I like for us to have a bit of dialogue in it without it resorting to just a complaint thread ... that's why we have the 'complaint' thread

Nothing wrong with expressing occasional displeasure about a play or series in the game thread but if that's all one posts, they need to be in the complaint thread. I try to post stats and down/distance/drive details after scores or big plays for those that are not able to watch or to emphasize key info during the games

Having you post some insights and brief analysis in the gamethread just enhances its value even more to those of us in parts unknown.

That said ... do whatever works best for you!