In response to my tweet asking why the mascot has a twitter account, the ARU feed sent me this reply: We are actually currently working with players and coaches to get them online first and then launch the Twitter alongside
To this, I would like to respond: you’re either
a) a) Telling a furphy to get out of an awkward situation or
b) b) Doing it in a totally arse about way.
For the sake of an argument, I’m going to respond as if the answer is B.
The process outlined in 140 characters is that they are getting players and coaches onto twitter, and THEN launching a Wallaroos twitter feed.
“Working with Players and coaches to get them online”
I follow Rebecca Tavo on twitter and on her first day, she tweeted “My first time on twitter. Help!” Regardless of if she was joking, this tends to indicate the ARU’s process of “working with players” was more a case of throwing them in the deep-end and saying “oh well, go for it”. It appears the only support around promotional material for her feed has come straight from the IRB, although her bio implies that by following her, you are following the Australian Women’s 7s team. I have absolutely no doubt that Rebecca is on her way to becoming a twitter superstar, and from all I’ve heard, she’s a fantastic ambassador for women’s rugby, but a note to the ARU: Whacking in a 5 word (and 1 number) bio saying “follow the Australian Women’s 7s team”, and tweeting for people to follow her once (!) is NOT “working with players”. [As an aside, I’d bloody LOVE to follow the Australian Women’s 7s team. Do they have a social media presence? No!]
“then launch the Twitter alongside”
This is the bit that really gets my goat. Firstly, who thought it was a good idea to market players individually and THEN establish a team brand on the back of it? I knew that the Wallaroos won the last 7s World Cup (only Australian side to ever do so, btw), so if I saw the Qantas Wallaroos as an option to follow, I’d go “ok sure – I know that name” but given that the Wallaroos site on the Australian Rugby website features a LOT of “images still to come” players, and Rebecca isn’t featured prominently on there at all (actually, not even identified as captain) how was I to know who she was by name recognition? For that matter, how is anyone to recognise her, or any other female player’s “brand” for the purposes of social media, given that the Wallaroos barely get any media coverage at all?
Secondly, how many players do you think will be required before the Wallaroos social media presence is launched? Is it one, two, the whole team? It strikes me as incredibly inefficient to get even 3 players to start a social media presence for a code YOU have the onus to promote, when one person from the ARU could’ve done the same thing within 5 minutes, then passed the login and password details along to 5 players, coaches and managers with an iPhone. Then the TEAM could’ve had a social media presence, and the players within the team wouldn’t have been asked to assume promotional responsibilities that they are NOT paid for. You don’t ask the Wallabies to tweet links to press releases – you do that yourself. You don’t ask the Wallabies to give score updates – you do that yourselves too. Why do the women have to start it? And, what happens if a player is injured and not in camp or at a tournament before the Wallaroos social media presence is established? Do we get NO news at all?
Finally, how hard do you think it actually is to develop a twitter profile? If you’d have done it on Thursday you could’ve launched it on International Women’s Day and had something MEANINGFUL to say, rather than a hollow recognition of “yeah, thanks ladies”. It would take you 5 minutes and would get my whingeing arse off your back. And you bet your arse GAGR would get behind the team – I’d see to it myself!
