Editor’s note: I Follow is all about ESPN employees on Twitter: what they tweet, whom they follow and how you can interact socially with anyone and everyone.
Today, we focus on ESPN reporter and host Shannon Spake.
She joined ESPN in 2007 and serves as a host and reporter for ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program NASCAR Now as well as a pit reporter during some NASCAR race telecasts. She also works as a sideline reporter for SEC college basketball and reports on NASCAR and college basketball for SportsCenter, including at the recent Final Four in New Orleans.
Twitter handle: @SSpakeESPN
ESPN Job: Reporter and host
Followers: 19,258 (as of 4/18/12)
Following: 385
When did you join Twitter and why?
It’s kind of like my cell phone…just seems like it’s just always been there. Why did I join? Well, because I’m not immune to the “need it now” world we live in. With Twitter, news is virtually instantaneous.
Who is your favorite person to follow on Twitter?
Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) from SportsNation is hilarious. Her wit is incredible and I find myself laughing out loud at almost all of her comments. 2003 Sprint Cup series champion Matt Kenseth (@Matt_Kenseth17) is also a great follow. He has a very dry sense of humor and his “fan chats” are some of the best comedy ever.
If you could add any one person as a Twitter follower, who would it be?
Oprah. If the “Queen of Media” followed and cared about what I tweeted, that would be pretty darn cool.
What’s your favorite Tweet you’ve received or your favorite Twitter moment?
I was in the Charlotte airport on my way to the SEC tournament. There was a group of Kentucky fans waiting in the terminal with me. I asked the group if I could take their picture and post it on Twitter. A few moments after I hit “Tweet” one of my followers responded with “hey, that’s my family!” And it really was her family. It’s crazy how small the world has become because of social media.
What does the Twitter hashtag #ESPNROADTRIP make you think of?
Last year, after our race at the Iowa Speedway, a group of us including Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Nicole Briscoe, Allen Bestwick and I had to drive from Des Moines to Chicago because severe storms in the area cancelled our flights. It’s a trip I will never forget. We were really tired from the a long day at the track and were feeling really sorry for ourselves because we were trekking down I-80 at 2 a.m.
We were using that hashtag as we drove along and Tweeted. But real perspective set in when we started reading Tweets about the tornadoes and destruction in Joplin, Mo. which took place earlier that evening. There are moments in our lives that force us to acknowledge and appreciate our blessings, and for me that was one of those moments.
