The Social Media and Me
I recently did an interview on ESPN2’s Dan LeBatard is Highly Questionable. Dan is a Miami-based sportswriter and radio host, and I’ve had a great time doing his radio show in the past. So, when he asked me to join him as the first non-sports guest on the new, entertaining TV show he does with his father, I was happy to oblige. And, indeed it was great fun, and, as you can see here, it was a very amusing and entertaining seven minutes or so.
We taped the segment a few days ahead of time, and I was flying across the country when it aired on January 24. That evening, I went to YouTube to watch the interview, and I noticed that a couple of hundred people had also watched it. Among the things they saw was a story I had told at least fifty times before about having margaritas at a Mexican restaurant across from NBC when Wheel of Fortune was a daytime show about 30 years ago. We had very long dinner breaks, and I joked that, by the time we got back to work, we had trouble recognizing the alphabet.
In the morning, I decided to send the link to the YouTube clip to some friends so they could see the piece, when I noticed that a couple of hundred views had turned into many thousands. What I didn’t realize at that moment was that I had fallen into the Social Media Vortex. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, it goes like this: a couple of websites link to the clip with headlines like “Pat Sajak Drunk While Doing Wheel,” and the number of “hits”—or views—spikes to levels that gain the attention of those who monitor such things, such as all the wacky morning radio crews around the country.
They all talk about it, and then you start “trending” on Twitter, further driving the hits into the hundreds of thousands, thereby gaining the attention of the so-called mainstream press. Before it subsides almost as quickly as it began, you find the “story” on ABC, CBS, CNN, and even featured on the NBC Nightly News. That’s right. A major national news organization decided that two guys laughing about having margaritas three decades ago was one of the items that should be featured on its nightly roundup of the top stories in the nation and the world.
The whole experience drove home a great irony of the Internet Age: while we are now provided with an almost infinite variety of voices and perspectives, we are also herded toward the same stories. Nearly all media outlets are now drinking from the same trough. Somewhere in a small town in the Midwest, a little girl’s parents will record her as she pedals her tricycle over a cat’s tail, causing the cat to jump up on her head. The video will become a YouTube sensation, and the little girl and her cat will be flown to New York to appear on Good Morning, America and The Late Show with David Letterman. If she’s lucky, she might even make the NBC Nightly News.
Welcome to the future. It’s a very weird place.
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Comments:
Nov '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
I heard this story 4 times on Friday! Three times on different radio stations and once on the Internet. I was wondering if you would say something about it here. Glad you did. I wonder how much of the play this is getting is related to your conservatism? You should join the local neo-nazi movement and see what happens.
Jan '11
Re: The Social Media and Me
"...although I'm hammered at this moment."
Aug '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
I agree that it should be taken as a compliment.
Considering the amount of smut and scandal that get reported on an hourly basis, "Pat Sajak drunk once," is virtually a Sunday School lesson!
Aug '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
WHEEL!
OF!
CALIGULAN DEBAUCHERY!
Jul '11
Re: The Social Media and Me
Well so goes the will of Fortuna.
Re: The Social Media and Me
P_T S_J_K,
B_CK _T L_ST!
HURR_H!
Jun '11
Re: The Social Media and Me
Dan & Papi are the only thing I watch on ESPN-- outside of live sports of course. The interview pieces are always great fun-- I'm just sorry Papi didn't ask you to tell him about "your first kiss." Did you see the outtakes Dan ran on Friday, Pat? Heard from Trebek yet?. Great stuff.
Mar '11
Re: The Social Media and Me
Peter Robinson: P_T S_J_K,
B_CK _T L_ST!
HURR_H! · 31 minutes ago
Pat, Does all your mail arrive this way?
Sep '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
Casey
Peter Robinson: P_T S_J_K,
B_CK _T L_ST!
HURR_H! · 31 minutes ago
Pat, Does all your mail arrive this way? · 4 minutes ago
H_h.
Sep '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
Forget it, Pat. Its Tinseltown.
Edited on January 29, 2012 at 8:08pmMay '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
Yeah, but I gotta say...
The visual of a thoroughly drunken game show is darned tempting. Comedy gold.
Apr '11
Re: The Social Media and Me
Hey Pat you might enjoy this YouTube video.
Jun '11
Re: The Social Media and Me
I was recently at a friends house and she showed me a social media site called Reddit (founded in 2005). In particular, there is an "IAmA" message board where people will post about their lives/jobs because they think their lives/jobs are interesting, and in return, members will then comment and ask questions in the hopes of getting an honest answer. It is mind boggling that sites like this have such a huge amount of "followers" (millions!), yet this is the world as we know it today and I am sure it will become even more strange. Next up: RateMyRat.com.
Edited on January 29, 2012 at 8:43pmRe: The Social Media and Me
I appreciate the "welcome backs." Knowing the value of teases and shameless promotion as I do, let me mention that I'll discuss my sabbatical on the Ricochet podcast the week after next.
Aug '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
Peter Robinson: P_T S_J_K,
B_CK _T L_ST!
HURR_H! · 2 hours ago
Pat Sajak Bucket List?!?!
I DO NOT like where this is going!!!
Re: The Social Media and Me
It wasn't all that long ago that the absolute worst thing you could say to someone was, "Hey, come on over to the house, and I'll show you my home movies." We now spend hour upon hour watching other people's lives. There is something very deep, very dark and very sad going on. I wish I had the insight to be able to explain it.
Re: The Social Media and Me
Peter Robinson: P_T S_J_K,
B_CK _T L_ST!
HURR_H! · 2 hours ago
I also thought it said "Bucket List." I finally figured it out, Peter, and I thank you. If everyone else will excuse a personal aside, I know I owe you an email. Give me a day or two.
Re: The Social Media and Me
Great to have you back, Pat - looking forward to the podcast. The new media world is weird. I sort like the old idea where professional editors, warts and all, could filter what's important. (There's bias, but with a competitive media industry, the truth will out). Today, the only filter is what's "trending," and those who actually select content refuse the honorable title of "editor." Instead, they're "curators." Yikes.
May '10
Re: The Social Media and Me
I was a member of the forum whose member, "Buckhead", was responsibile for sussing out that the Bush ANG docs were a Microsoft word font. I like the new media better. It prevented President Kerry.
Feb '11
Re: The Social Media and Me
Thanks for the service of linking to the original interview segment, because it places the "Arcos" section within context. What a wonderful guy thing there is when one guy maligns another guy's really good story while laughing hysterically about it. That was some very funny television, and the kind of genial, smart interviewing that ESPN does so well, and it's as funny as listening to Hugh Hewitt talk with James Lileks or Mike Gallagher talking to Chris Wallace on Friday afternoon. Great stuff!