I was recently asked if I could do some tweeting at a competition, so I consulted with a colleague who is very much in the know about twitterverses and such like. The first warning I received from that person was that you have to be extremely careful when you post tweets from a competition, since once you’ve said it, it’s out there – right or wrong, or soon to be changed due to new evidence coming to light.
I didn’t end up tweeting from the competition, but I decided that it’s high time I dragged my reluctant ass into the second decade of the 21st century. I have been passively visiting Twitter this week to get more familiar with it so that I can make an informed decision about whether tweeting should be added to my repertoire. Imagine my confusion yesterday when I saw a tweet come along from EC, proudly proclaiming Canada as the winner of the Nations’ Cup at Spruce. Why was I confused? Because I just happened to be watching it live on FEI TV and I had visual evidence that such was not the case. The EC tweet mysteriously vanished a short while later, so I can’t prove to you that it existed – but I verified with someone else that they too observed the erroneous bird song during its short life in cyberspace.
Earth to EC Marketing and Communications Dept: I know I’ve been hard on you for lack of communication (and I haven’t yet seen a press release to announce the ‘real’ news that Canada did qualify for Barcelona with its third place yesterday at Spruce – unless I count the one from USEF that mentions the good news for Canada), but to rework a bit of advice from Thumper, ‘if you can’t say somethin’ right, don’t say nothin’ at all.’
If EC’s members (other than me) gave a rat’s ass what kind of a job the staff are doing for the salaries that come directly from our membership dollars, they’d be demanding a thorough house cleaning – including taking out the rugs and moving the furniture. Incorrectly tweeting that Canada won a team competition that was live streamed globally (never mind that this competition took place in Canada where, presumably EC had staff on the ground) raises EC M&C to a whole new world of incompetence.
Congratulations EC. You’ve soared to new heights in your wobbling orbit around reality: the ineptosphere.
