Wednesday, June 06, 2007
So and so did not respond to messages left on Facebook.com.
So I was getting desperate to track down this college football player that had gotten into a little trouble with the cops. My editor said it was impossible to get him on the phone, but to try anyway. I would have been happy to get his brother on the phone. Or his cousin.Or his dog.
I had no luck with his HS coach, whom I presume was fielding calls all day and wasn't interested in talking.
So I went the Mark Zuckerberg way.
Sending messages to people you actually know on Facebook is, at best, an inexact science; it lies somewhere in between complimenting a girl as your first line when you approach her, and life being akin to a box of chocolates: you really never know what you're gonna get.
So the fact that I didn't know this cat from a hole in the wall didn't do me any good.
I wouldn't recommend this as a standard effective reporting practice, but I will say that it worked. I got a contact that will lead me to the player in question, and if we run something else about him, I will most definitely be using those digits.
Thanks, Mark.
P.S. -- Anybody mad about this?
Labels: Facebook, lazy reporting
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