So what do Brett Favre, Social Media and Soap Operas have in common? Not much unless you count Favre’s on again/off again retirement soap opera and it’s coverage in Social Media. Seriously the only real connection is that I’ve written previously about all three and here are some updates on those three topics. 

Making way for New Talent – In a post from a few months ago I commented on the need for organizations and teams to make way for new talent, especially when existing talent might be losing a step - physically or metaphorically.  To illustrate this example I used the whole Brett Favre – on-again/off-again retirement hubbub. As it turns out Favre had a great season and the Vikings’ gamble on Brett Favre paid off big time. The Vikings went 12-4 this season, winning 2 playoff games before losing to the Saints in the NFC Championship.  This compares to last years 10-6 season and loss in the wildcard playoff game. 

Favre’s last two games of the playoffs were a study in contrasts though. Favre had a playoff career game against the Cowboys throwing for 4 touchdowns. But against the Saints Favre’s interception achilles’ heel beat him once again. His last play as a Green Bay Packer was throwing an interception. His last play as a New York Jet was throwing an interception and his last play this year as a Viking was throwing an interception. Maybe what makes Favre such a great quarterback, is also what makes him think he can make those impossible passes – or maybe he’s just not physically able to make the passes anymore in key situations that he was once was able to. Of course he wasn’t the only high profile quaterback to thrown an interveption at a key point in a game this post-season – witness Peyton Manning’s interception that was run back for a touchdown. 

 I’ll leave the assessment of just when a quarterback has lost something to smarter and more knowledgeable people – but I think everyone can agree that the Vikings made a great decision in going after Favre.  Because with the “Old man from Mississippi” at QB, the Vikings made it to the NFC championship game  for the first time since the 2000 season losing to the eventual Superbowl Champions. 

Social Media for Entrepreneurs - As more companies and entrepreneurs recognize the importance of Social Media it’s interesting to see how it’s implemented – here’s the link to my original post. Spam, noise and spew are increasing and creeping into more companies’ feeds. They are starting to resemble a date who does all the talking – after a while you just can’t wait for the date to end.

Social Media is a two-way conversation . No one wants to spend time with someone who always talks and never listens – and the same holds true with social media. It seems that some companies let the power of Social Media go to their heads - and drunk with the ability to have a speak informally with their customer they start acting like they are pushing Shamwows in a late-night infomercial – “but wait, there’s more”! 

You can read the rest of the post at the link below:

http://www.thommitchell.com/2010/02/12/brett-favre-social-media-and-soap-operas/