Understandably, many Americans were hugely frustrated by the 2-2 score line with Slovenia on Friday, not least because they arguably deserved a third goal (the linesman gave a foul which disallowed the strike). FIFA, under a barrage of criticism from many quarters – not least the American one – did not respond with a huge amount of enthusiasm; Sepp Blatter’s decision to reply to concerns with a Tweet is perhaps one that will rile people further.
Social Media
Blatter wrote: “Thanks for all the questions on refereeing. My views on improving refs and video technology are here http://ow.ly/20ACS”. Many would argue that this hardly has the impact of a news conference. The link goes to a statement Blatter made in March regarding the continuing policy of not using instant replay technology to make a decision where an outcome is not obvious to the referee or linesman (or the entire American squad). The use of social media in this way perhaps is not politically a great idea, but it certainly meant tens of thousands of people were in the loop immediately – whether on their home PCs or their mobile devices.
The fact that Twitter is being used by such a large organisation to communicate to the people that mean most to it, demonstrates the power of the platform to disseminate news to many people, instantly. Many would argue, however, that FIFA should apply their forward thinking approach to communication – to instant replay technology too.
Related posts: