@ESPN and how media outlets shouldn't do Twitter

I've used this space before to bash ESPN. I even think that they are ruining modern sportswriting. (I can't find that blog post for some reason, but it happened.)

But ESPN gets some things right. And, for most people, it is the first place to go for sports news.

So I was surprised at first when I saw the "Worldwide Leader" posting things like this on its Twitter account, @espn.

@jpmontoya Are #42 fans the best ever? Have them apply to the #HallofFans & be enshrined in history to prove it -> bit.ly/HallOfFans
— ESPN (@espn) July 24, 2012

So apparently ESPN set up some sort of goofy Fan Hall of Fame. (I'm not going to link to it here out of principle.) That's cool and all. And as a media outlet on Twitter, you should use the medium to publicize it. I get it. But this?

@kaseykahne Are #5 fans the best ever? Have them apply to the #HallofFans & be enshrined in history to prove it -> bit.ly/HallOfFans
— ESPN (@espn) July 24, 2012

@keselowski Are #2 fans the best ever? Have them apply to the #HallofFans & be enshrined in history to prove it -> bit.ly/HallOfFans
— ESPN (@espn) July 24, 2012

@JeffGordonWeb Are #24 fans the best ever? Have them apply to the #HallofFans & be enshrined in history to prove it -> bit.ly/HallOfFans
— ESPN (@espn) July 24, 2012

@espn sent seven tweets in a row with that exact same wording to the Twitter accounts of seven different NASCAR drivers in a span of 37 minutes Monday. Earlier in the day, the account sent a spurt of the same message to other NASCAR drivers. Last week I saw the same message sent to college team and Major League Soccer team twitter accounts.

That's not something a "Worldwide Leader" media Twitter account should be doing. That's the kind of crap you see from a bad middle-aged realtor who heard that Twitter would boost sales and has no freakin' clue how to use it. Who runs this account?

It annoyed me so much that I unfollowed. I know I'm a drop in the bucket, but I really, really hope they read this @ message:

Do your job, @espn. Tweet about sports. Don't pander to athletes for your stupid Fan Hall of Fame or whatever.
— Corey Inscoe (@CoreyInscoe) July 23, 2012