Jump to content

Albers

hoosierpap

By hoosierpap
in Indiana Men's Basketball

 Share

Recommended Posts

hoosierpap Newbie

hoosierpap

Posted
Posted

 

 

Assembly Call @AssemblyCall

Who do you think we should try to have on as a guest during our offseason shows? #iubb

 

Justin Albers @Justin_Albers

@AssemblyCall Perhaps a departing IU writer who sometimes says stupid **** on Twitter that piss people off?

 

@AssemblyCall

@Justin_Albers you are leaving the IU beat? I did not realize. What is next?

HoosierAloha Newbie

HoosierAloha

Posted
Posted
 

 

Assembly Call @AssemblyCall

Who do you think we should try to have on as a guest during our offseason shows? #iubb

 

Justin Albers @Justin_Albers

@AssemblyCall Perhaps a departing IU writer who sometimes says stupid **** on Twitter that piss people off?

 

@AssemblyCall

@Justin_Albers you are leaving the IU beat? I did not realize. What is next?

He said something about this a few weeks ago. I wish it were tomorrow though. The guy embarrasses himself almost every time he hits send or post.

Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

  • 2 months later...
mamasa Contributor

mamasa

Posted
Posted

Don't know where else to put this- anyone read Albers' tweet about why he failed and was a general nozzle? Don't know how to post links from Twitter but it's refreshingly honest

Class of '66 Old Fart Rising Star

Class of '66 Old Fart

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, mamasa said:

Don't know where else to put this- anyone read Albers' tweet about why he failed and was a general nozzle? Don't know how to post links from Twitter but it's refreshingly honest

 

On my time at Indiana, and why I failed at Scout

If you’re reading this, thanks for being here. I hope this site will be fun for you.

Now that my contract with Scout has expired and Peegs has moved over to the network, I wanted to take the time to share some things with you and also offer advice to younger writers and people in general about social media.

I came to Indiana as a cocky freshman because I’d written professionally for newspapers and magazines since I was 16. The IDS quickly put me in my place by sticking me on the men’s tennis beat, and I needed that.

I spent the next four years earning my stripes and working my way up. I volunteered for any and every story at the IDS as a freshman, even if it meant I had to skip class to do it. I agreed to write midweek features on men’s tennis every week, something the editors were always desperate for. When I didn’t get the baseball beat, I went back and grinded even harder on the men’s tennis beat in the spring semester.

I shared my opinion — which was often polarizing — when I moved up to football columnist as a sophomore and junior, but I also worked my ass off as a reporter. I developed relationships that became sources, and I broke news before anyone else.

(Note: During Kevin Wilson’s first season, he once cornered me and Alex McCarthy in an elevator and asked us which one of us had been talking to his players. But that’s a story for another day.)

Alex Bozich gave me a life-changing opportunity when he hired me at Inside The Hall in 2011, and the two years I spent there on the basketball and recruiting beat were by far the best years of my young journalism career.

But in the time since then, I’ve rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Most of them probably aren’t reading this for that very reason, but that’s OK. I lost a lot of people’s support because of the way I often handled myself on Twitter.

I’ve too often been immature and egotistical in responding to fans and tweeting about certain topics. I recognize that, and I take full responsibility for it. I will hide from none of it. I’m not usually the person you see on Twitter in real life, but that’s my fault and not yours.

There aren’t any classes on how to handle yourself on social media (if there was I wouldn’t score highly), but I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I don’t want other young people to make the same ones. Always remember that every single word you send out on Twitter becomes part of who you are forever. Every single word you send it will shape how people view you in the real world.

If I’d been following myself on Twitter all these years, I would have clicked the unfollow button long ago. I wouldn’t have liked myself, so I fully understand why many of you view me in the way that you do.

There’s a fine line between good confidence and bad cockiness, and I’ve battled that since I arrived in Bloomington as an 18-year-old in 2009. As my Twitter follower count grew and as I broke more and more stories, I jumped on an airplane and flew far past that fine line. I’ve been arrogant and childish, and I’ve lost a lot of would-be fans because of it.

Twitter became like a drug to me. I allowed it to become my identity and I lost sight of all the things that got me to where I am, and all the values I’ve always held true and wanted to represent. My Twitter account became my alter-ego, and as I’ve taken a deeply introspective look at myself in the last six months, I’m embarrassed at what that alter-ego looked like.

I allowed every negative reply to poke at me. I let me competitive nature make me attack other writers. I became a person I never wanted to be, and I couldn’t change it. It was a drug, and I was addicted.

I let personal issues leak into my professional life, and as time went on, I couldn’t distinguish my professional life from my personal life. I was too young to have my own site when Scout gave it to me last July, and I faced the impossible task of building another money maker in a market that already includes two powerhouses.

Obviously, I failed to do that. It wasn’t entirely because of my behavior on social media, but my Twitter presence certainly didn’t help. I let myself get away from everything that makes me who I am and everything that allowed me the unique opportunity to run a site for a national company at 24 years old.

Everything I’ve ever said on Twitter will forever be part of my digital footprint, and I accept that. I can’t change it, and I won’t try to. But I will do everything in my power to earn your trust and respect again, however long that may take. I will work to become the person I want to be and not the one I’ve been on social media.

My time at Indiana will always be special to me. These seven years have been full of good times and bad, but more importantly, lessons that will help me for the rest of my career and the rest of my life. Indiana fans are the best and most passionate in the country, and now I will become one of those fans. I’m really excited about that.

Lastly, to any young writers, athletes, or other people reading this: Please think twice — er, 27 times — before you send anything out into cyberspace. Social media is full of people who would love to see you fail. The best thing you can do isn’t to reply with an insult or tweet words you’ll later regret — it’s to succeed, and flourish.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


×
×
  • Create New...