agustina prigoshin

It’s nothing new. There are tons of people who are fans of a particular reporter, but Social Media takes our “fanhood” to a new level.

For example, I listen to NPR every morning during my commute to my office and whenever I hear Niala Boodhoo and Bridget Carey come on to talk about Social Media, not only am I eagerly nodding in approval with everything they say, but I tweet them as soon as I get to the office. I send them a tweet about how much I agreed with what they said and enjoyed hearing their story.

I’m cheating a little bit with Boodhoo and Carey’s case because I met them before hearing them on the radio. I became a fan of their work after meeting them in person and then looking them up. Hearing them on the radio only added to my excitement of being their fan, and connecting with them through Social Media helped boost my being a fan into more of a friendship.

How I met Kenny Malone is a little different. Maybe it’s the fearless publicist in me or the solid implementation of Social Media in my every day life that made me feel like it was OK to shoot him a random email expressing my opinion after hearing his report on Sesame Street (look for “Follow that (Big) Bird: Memories of ‘Sesame Street’, 40 years on” next to 11/20). His story left me in shock at how true it was and I wanted to tell him how I felt. To my surprise, he responded almost immediately with what seemed like a private follow up to his story.
Earlier this week, Malone did a story about StoryCorps and asked Miami Herald/WLRN staff members if they’ve ever cried during the four minute show. Naturally, I felt compelled to email him and tell him about how much I cry during that show and ask him if he reacts the same way – if you’ve ever heard StoryCorps, you know how heart-felt the stories can be.

It’s Social Media that encourages and facilitates conversation. It’s Social Media that makes it easy to connect with pretty much anyone online. It’s Social Media that helps fans feel more like friends. And it’s Social Media that helps build invaluable relationships.