Why @bubbawatson Had Such A Cool Tweet

Last night, PGA Tour Player Bubba Watson, tweeted a link to a video of him teaching how to hit a flop shot over a bunker.  I retweeted the link saying (from my golf site) that I thought that it was cool for a bunch of different reasons.  Like most RT’s, I half expected it to go into the ether never to be heard from again.

A few hours later, I got this response:

Wow, that is cool, but probably a response worthy of more than 140 characters. Here is what my immediate reaction was.

1.) Adoption – A few days ago, I noticed this tweet from Stewart Cink:

So less than a week ago, Bubba Watson was new to Twitter and now he is sharing video.  As someone who lives and breathes by adoption rates of my product, this is awesome to see.  Bubba Watson may be my new case study on adoption. Within a week, he recognized the power of social media, built a huge base of followers and regularly adds value using text, photos and video. What if a percentage of your employees did the same thing?

2.) Actual pro’s sharing video – Sharing video on Twitter isn’t new. Giving lessons to people via links in Twitter isn’t new either, but usually golf lessons are delivered via @dorfongolf and you have to take them with a grain of salt.  Seeing a tour pro give a lesson offers a much different level of credibility and, like watching any professional athlete, it is a little magical too.  Usually playing lessons are reserved for high quality, Golf Channel, fancy production things.  This was just Bubba out for a casual round and making a quick video.  I’ll take 30-minutes of this any day.

3.) Response time – Bubba Watson interacts with his fans a lot on Twitter.  Probably more than anyone else on the PGA and most people on LPGA.  Not since Shaq have I seen an athlete truly converse with their fans in this manner.  I shouldn’t be surprised by the response rate, but it was still pretty cool.

4.) The video is pretty good too:


I’ve always dug Bubba Watson as a player. He has a sweet swing and hits the ball a million miles. But in the last 12-hours I’ve gone from average fan to huge fan all due to a simple video and a quick response.

Tagged as: Bubba Watson, golf, Golf Channel, PGA Tour, Stewart Cink, twitter