Tiger Woods hangs out with fans on Google+
Tiger Woods took to Google+ Hangout this morning to do a little more connecting with his fans.
Tiger Woods has done a little bit more to reconnect with his fans by doing some live chat at Google+ Hangout. In case you missed it, (it was held at 6am AEST this morning) you can check out the full hangout via the Tiger Woods website.
This is now the second online chat Woods has scheduled to talk to his fans. The first, lovingly referred to in some parts as ‘the hostage video’ saw Woods answering scripted questions in a pre-recorded setting. Today’s chat was held live via Google+ Hangout and saw Tiger field questions from some fans and people that Woods seems to know quite well.
It was all a lot less scripted and forced than the previous chat session, but these new forms of reconnecting with fans has been a little controversial for a number of reasons.
Firstly, Woods is now doing these sorts of chats in place of some press conferences which has got under the nose of many golf journalists and reporters. It is commonly known that Woods feels he has had a tough run with the media but has done nothing to exactly win them back over, and this isn’t helping. The icy glare and boring answers were clear during a media conference a couple of months ago.
Secondly, the media, along with most golf fans just don’t understand why he doesn’t become more likable on the golf course. His angry demeanour, devoid of any humour have included club kicking and spitting episodes which would make most club members think about finding another playing partner.
So it’s fairly obvious the Tiger Woods cooperation is finding other ways to win back his fan base off the golf course, by-passing those nasty media types in the process.
Without condoning any of Tiger Woods’ on and off the course actions, I would agree he has been pretty hard done by in the press, but anyone with any sort of humour, humility and PR team would have nipped this in the bud by now and he’d be back in the loving arms of the world golf community. Golf form aside of course.
Having said all that, I think what Tiger is doing here is pretty good. I’m guessing Woods didn’t come up with the Google+ Hangout idea himself but it is engaging. We get to hear a lot about the upcoming US Open golf course and he’s using new media in exactly the way it should be used.
It’s just a pity that he can’t combine it with a friendlier on-course and press tent demeanour to bring everyone, media and fellow golfers included, back on board the Tiger Woods train.
