Less ranty thoughts about Mets social media efforts

The Metropolitan Baseball Club Inc. needs to realize there is a tribe out there called Mets fans.

There is nothing that the Club can do to break up our tribe. They can move the team to Mercury or even fold and yet the tribe will still gather in bars to tell old stories about Seaver and Buckner and Piazza.

The tribe has a way of speaking. Social media has allowed us to connect. I now “know” thousands of Mets fans. That’s something I couldn’t easily do in 1993.

My point about the rant is that Mets social media should be part of the conversation. Don’t try to start a new conversation. Don’t try to change our language. We will be the ones who determine Matt Harvey’s nickname, not the Club.

What do the Mets do well?

– the twitter chats with players or Sandy

– cool casual non-forced behind the scenes pictures

– quick hit ticket offers, promotional offers, new information

– rain check info.

What don’t the Mets (or MLBAM or whoever “the Mets” are) do well?

– talking at us. The made-up hashtags being today’s example.

– the clips that presumably come from MLBAM get shared way too late. It will be the 7th inning and suddenly there is a tweet about a play from the third inning. It’s designed to get us to watch a clip on MLB.com and up their pageviews. I get it but its lame. When you do that you aren’t part of the tribe you are a corporation trying to sell me something.

What could they do better?

– retweet more fans. If someone tweets a cool picture at the Mets then retweet it. We don’t need to get into legal nonsense of who owns the picture or who is going to sue who. It’s just a retweet.

– embrace the tribe. If the tribe is using #morecowgill why fight it? Speak our language.

– why isn’t someone active during the games “hanging out” like many of the fans are? Why wouldn’t @mets be part of that hang? Shouldn’t @mets be rooting for the Mets? What would be wrong with a “come on David…” tweet in a big spot.

– again, join our conversation. Don’t start a new one. We would be happy to have you.

– they need “the Howie Rose of twitter.” This is in some ways broadcasting. It is definitely media. Unlike what Howie does it should be two-way.

They need a voice. Who is “@mets” – is it whoever is on duty for the night?

This should be a personality. If Howie is the voice of the Mets, who is the voice of social media? Here in the second decade of the 21st century that should not only be a job but it should be a personality and have a personality.