CNN Ali Velshi's Mean Twitter Tweets Stop: Ali Says Feud Over

A weird kind of feud with CNN's Ali Velshi that I never started is over. And the whole deal resulted in a tweet that was an acknowledged an error on his part, and another one expressing a plan to meet at 21 Club in New York, where this video-blogger will enjoy drinks with CNN's business anchor.

It started when - as I explained here - I simply sent a Twitter tweet that a guest Ali had on his Saturday show was long winded, and talked over Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

Ali responded in a tweet-testy way, asking who made me the timekeeper. I tweeted back that I did, and decided to use the tweets as a lesson in social media.

On Sunday, after my epic blog post on this matter, and airing some issues with how CNN tends to not present black pundits, I learned that Ali was involved in a bit of a Twitter snit with a 99ers blogger named "Paladenette," who just happens to blog at Zennie62.com, and that I didn't know about before. (If you don't know, 99ers are those who need unemployment insurance beyond the 99 day limit.)

So, I sent Ali this tweet:

@zennie62 Zennie Abraham
@AliVelshi @paladinette But that's the point, Ali, I don't have ANYTHING against you. You just went off! No good reason
17 hours ago

To which Ali responded back with this:

@AliVelshi Ali Velshi
@zennie62 I got you, Zennie. I grant you a SuperBowl Sunday pardon :-)
17 hours ago

And at that point, I proposed we meet at my favorite restaurant in America: The 21 Club, at 21 West 52nd Street, in New York City.

@AliVelshi Ali Velshi
@zennie62 ok deal - next time we're in the same place, drinks on me (if you don't mind having a racist buy you a drink :-( )
17 hours ago

As I tweeted, I don't think Ali's racist, and my post was more complicated that that by far. I think there are still race-based issues to talk about with how blacks are presented on television. To put it simply, when an expert on something is needed, the pundit tends to be white, and we hear and see blacks still more often than not on black issues.

That's why ESPN is a refreshing change. Because they call on athletes as anchors, regardless of color, you get a wide range of views. And ESPN's not afraid to take on the issue of "the black athlete."

I think CNN has good intentions, but there's this issue I have of CNN all too often having blacks as "window dressing" rather than as engaging participants on a panel. Sometimes that's the fault of the black participant, waiting to be asked a question. And waiting.

But in the case of an elected official, you don't make them wait, you make sure they get a chance to talk, even if you have to draw them out. That's just protocol.

Well, that aside, the overall lesson was in how to develop buzz and content. This matter started to pick up traction because Ali's a public figure, and to a lesser extent so am I. Personally, I think we should have played out the feud for ratings.

21 Club, here we come!

NFL and Super Bowl XLV Score With Social Media

Green Bay Packers! Your 2010-2011 @NFL Champions! Good game, Steelers had a chance #SB45, originally uploaded by dennis_p.

The Green Bay Packers weren't the only Super Bowl XLV winners. The National Football League scored big too, via the advertisers who purchased time to air their Super Bowl ads, and in some cases combine them with coordinated Social Media efforts.

And Social Media platforms scored big too, especially the microblogging platform Twitter and the photo sharing site Flickr. For example, this photo was posted by dennis_p using just his Blackberry directly from Cowboys Stadium after the Super Bowl. Since dennis_p left the photo available for sharing via blogs like Blogger (another platform), that opens the way for sharing of that content via Twitter and then Facebook for those Twitter users taking advantage of the use of that app as I do.

All of this adds up to a new form of media that works to deliver information faster than standard news websites. Live blogging has been replaced by live tweeting using Twitter streaming widgets. And the game has changed from using Google track events to Twitter.

In fact the game's changed so much in Twitter's direction that a new website used the popularity of the hashtag "Superbowl" introduce itself: heapr.com.

heapr.com is a site that combines Google and Twitter searches on one page, and presents both faster than either one. So fast, it's addictive.

The Top Twitter Topics Over 30 Hours, and Glee

The Super Bow's impact can be seen in the list of the top Twitter topics over the last 30 hours according to Trendistic.com: glee, green
the packers, win, game, commercial, this, they,usher, halftime show
fergie, the black eyed peas, half time, where, best, the steelers, super bowl, christina, the superbowl, she, watching, the national anthem, your.

Of the list, one one wasn't obviously directly related to The Super Bowl and that was Glee. But Glee benefited from being the lead telecast after the Super Bowl and thus the one benefiting from a lot of ads during the game. On top of that, Glee's demographic includes those 18 to 30 and most likely to be on Twitter.

In closing the Super Bowl provides the best crucible from which to grow a social media campaign. You can go the expense route and buy ads at $3 million for a minute, or you can go boostrap as heapr.com did and become the tweet of choice for Twitters using key hashtags like "Superbowl."

Not a bad strategy.

President Obama, Super Bowl Champion Packers Coming To White House

Just over two weeks ago, President Barack Obama, perhaps trying to motivate his hometown Chicago Bears, said that he was looking forward to greeting the Monsters Of The Midway To The White House after their expected Super Bowl win.

The trouble is that was just before their NFC Championship loss to the Green Bay Packers. After the game, Cornerback Charles Woodson, in a passionate locker room speech, said that Obama expected the Bears to be at the White House, "so we're going to see Obama at The White House."

The room erupted in cheers.

Now, after a dramatic 31- 25 win in Super Bowl XVL tonight, the one fact lost in the victory is that the Packers are now due for a trip to The White House to see that greatest of Bears fans President Barack Obama.

Amazing.

Aaron Rodgers MV, and The Green Bay Packers, Super Bowl Champs

The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31 to 25 in a Super Bowl XLV game that was a nail biter to watch. Cal Bear and now Green Bay Quarterback Aaron Rodgers finally got out from under the considerable shadow of Brett Favre to earn his first ring.

Congratulations to Aaron Rodgers, who I personally watched go from an expected number one pick in the first round of the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft, to become the 25th pick in the first round of the Green Bay Packers.

And that year, the Niners Offensive Coordinator was the same person who is now the coach of those Champion Packers, Mike McCarthy.

Amazing.

Aaron played with class and calm, overcoming head injuries and team injuries to march his squad through the Wild Card of The Playoffs, past the Chicago Bears in The NFC Championship, and to this Super Bowl game.

Aaron Rodgers is the Super Bowl XLV MVP.

GO BEARS!

Super Bowl MVP Voting Open At NFL.com/mvp

The NFL just opened voting for the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLV. You can vote at this link: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/45/mvp-ballot/votes

Who's the MVP?

Meanwhile, here's the Twitter Stream:

Superbowl Score: Green Bay Packers 21, Pittsburgh Steelers 10 Halftime

At the halftime of Super Bowl XLV the Pittsburgh Steelers are ahead of the Green Bay Packers in almost every statistical category save for two: turnovers and the score.

The Packers are ahead 21 to 10, but the Steelers have outgained the Packers 204 yards to 174. They have more plays, 34 to 23. And the Steelers have more yards rushing 61 to 37 as of this writing. (See ESPN.com)

So the Packers lead is a hollow one and the Steelers are beating themselves.

Here comes the second half.

Super Bowl Live Stream And Live Blog Twitter Hashtag "SuperBowl"

Believe it or not there's a Super Bowl Live Stream Of Super Bowl XLV that's about to get underway here from Arlington, Texas. You can see one of many live streams of the game with a click here.

Now, for the live blog of Super Bowl XVL...

Steelers going unbalanced line on first two plays. On second play, the Steelers were stopped as Packers flowed to the ball - a five yard loss.

Rothlisberger incomplete on 3rd and 10. Ben should have waited for Hines to break his route.

Punt fumbled but Packers recovered.

Packers go five wide with Aaron Rogers in the shotgun, but fail to get a second first down. They punt.

Steelers ball on the Packers 20. And now, using an unbalanced line again, get Rashard Mendenhall on traps, and a nifty weakside run from an unbalanced line. But after they reached midfield, misfired on a pass on third-and-two.

Why the pass on 3rd-and-2 I don't know. Mendenhall picked up 24 yards on two carries!

OMG. Pepsi Max commercial was hilarious!

Here come the Packers 1st and 10, 20. Rodgers misses deep out of a shotgun "brown" formation set.

Standard I set now. Pass to Nelson, but gain of nine. 3rd down and inches, but I expect Packers to throw. Nope - they gain seven with James Starks.

Packers throwing to Jordy Nelson for fourth time already.

Packers on a drive.

Fast and Furious movie commercial, but I'm hoping to see Thor and Captain America.

Alex Rodriguez gets fed popcorn from Cameron  Diaz!   Wow.

Packers his Jordy Nelson for touchdown off play fake on 3rd and 1. Rogers threw a perfect ball that time. 9 plays, 80 yards.

Here's the rest as a Twitter stream: