(warning: the opinion expressed in this post is that of the author (@DHSpeedwagon) and doesn't represent the thinking of Scarlett Ice as a whole. Please feel free to complain about it in the comments)
Late last week in the twitterverse Matt Carle of the Philadelpha Flyers (@mattcarle25) tweeted the following:
"Also, would like to donate some $$$ to a local charity, if I get 10k followers by the end of the reg. season, I'll donate $10k to C.H.O.P."
Now let me start off by saying, in no way do I think donating money to charity is a bad thing. Mr. Carle wants to do something good in his community, and he should be commended for it. I do however, take issue with the fact that Matt uses the guise of giving to charity as means to increase his followers. (I should point out Matt isn't the first player to do this and my opinion isn't focused on him but rather NHL players, and celebrities in general who use this kind of ploy. Matt's just the most recent example. I'm sure he means well, even if he is a Philadelphia Flyer.)
Now again, I'd like to repeat, giving money to charity isn't a bad thing.
According to NHL Numbers (
http://www.nhlnumbers.com/ ) Matt makes $3.5 million this season. That makes his donation approximately 0.29% of his salary. When I mockingly tweeted I would give that much of my salary to charity in exchange for 10,000 followers I was pretty much blasted for being a complainer who is against charity. (It was pointed out that if my donation is about $145 then I might as well just go follow Matt
Carle. Silly me, I didn't realize all donations aren't created equally. Oh right, when I follow Matt it's not really my money. I get it now. FULFILLING!)
People love to lambaste me and anyone else who dares share an opinion about Matt and other players like him who've pulled this act before. "What's wrong with you?" "Stop complaining!" "He's trying to do a good thing!" I'm not questioning giving money to charity, I'm just questioning the method in which it's being done.
I use twitter as a tool for interaction. If you have something to say that is:
-entertaining
-funny
-RT'd in my feed
there is a good chance I will follow you. Similarly, I expect that's how I ended up in a lot of my followers feeds. They're most likely following me because of something I tweeted and they enjoy dialogue with me. I don't pander for followers. If people grow tired of what I have to say, or have no interest in me to begin with, they don't need to follow me and I'm not going to ask them to. Furthermore, I don't resort to self serving gimmicks (albeit good intentioned ones) in order to increase my follower count. I don't need to be bullied, guilted, or coerced into following someone and I don't plan on doing the same. I expect the content of my feed, and the feed of others to drive the counts.
What would be wrong with Matt Carle tweeting he donated $10,000 to charity and telling everyone about it after the fact? Why do I have to commit to listening to his rambling about Superbowl bets or what he's watching on television in order to feel better about myself and ensure he gives money to charity? If Matt doesn't get his 10,000 followers should I feel guilty about the sick kids who won't get their money because I didn't follow him? Why should the onus be put on me and others when Matt can easily just give the money? If Matt doesn't get 10,000 followers and donate to charity it isn't my fault for not following, it's his for coming up with the dumb idea in the first place.
One of the biggest rebuttals from people is "he'll probably give the money anyway". If that's the case then why the big charade? You're admitting that more than likely the whole thing is a rouse so that Matt can pad his follower count and you, him and the sick kids can all feel better. Obviously Matt isn't going to renege (I hope) if he doesn't get the 10,000 followers (unless he has really bad PR advisers) and he will more than likely donate the money to charity regardless.
It seems disingenuous to me to wrap up a gift to charity (which is good!) with a gimmick to increase your following. In the end I'd rather Matt makes his good gesture and tweets something that makes me want to follow him rather than pandering to the masses with a sense of guilt or obligation making them feel like they have to.
Agreed.
I would like to see him explain to the children, "sorry sick, possibly terminally ill kids. No money for you, because a bunch of strangers didn't click a button."
He's obviously going to donate the money anyway.
Also, fans who really want to contribute to the cause can make their own donations in whatever way they want. No need to bargain with internet popularity about whether/how much to donate.
Excellent write-up. Sums up exactly how I feel about it. Nothing against Carle, I'm sure he's a stand up guy and will give to charity. But the extortion gimmick is unnecessary. If he committedto talking about the cause (a great one), one could argue this is all about raising awareness.that said, it just feels like a ploy to raise his follower count.
Where do we start here?
Firstly, Ill ask who the hell lodged a stick so far up your ass that you're this cynical.
Matt Carle chose twitter as a medium to interact with fans. The 10K followers for 10k$ is simply his way of interacting with a community and medium he knows absolutely nothing about and trying to appear in good light.
Whats the difference between you asking for 10K followers and him on a percentage base? The bottom line is completely different. Does C.H.O.P appreciate Matt Carle's money more then yours? No, they'll be just as thankful I'm sure. What can they use more? your 149$ (or whatever 0.0029% of your annual income) or Matt Carle's TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS??
When the hell did $10,000.00 cease being $10,000.00 anyways and transform into 'well how much is that of your annual income anyways TBHIDFBIEWG snotty rich atheletes only giving out 10 thousand dollars instead of 10 BILLION'. Take it easy. The guys a hockey player. He just joined twitter. He wants to interact with his fans and this is how he saw it best used.
So stop being such a Grinch and just follow the guy, and stop reading in the between the lines this much.
Elie:
Why the need for the gimmick? Why not just give the Goddamned money? Why attach strings that ultimately won't matter if he's at all a decent person? How would it be different if I were to say "HAI GUYS IMMA GIVE $250 TO THE LOCAL CANCER CLINIC BUT ONLY IF I GET 250 FOLLOWERS!!!1" Different financial scale, but whatever: I was gonna do it anyway, because I've been giving to this clinic for years, and if my shit is worth reading, I'll get to 250 regardless. Why the bullshit?
I understand the sentiment but can't get behind it in practice.
@Doogie2K this is how it's different: you're $250 is 40 TIMES SMALLER THEN HIS $10,000.00!!
Just because he earns it faster then you does not mean it's worth any less then your $10,000.00. That's called 'economics'.
Now, 'social networking' for a hockey player means interacting with fans in a manner they see best and fit. He saw this venue and medium as the best way to interact with fans in a large scale while also doing something good for the community.
And why the bullshit? It's not bullshit. It's an athlete trying to interact with fans while giving money to charity. Stop taking offense to something that you shouldn't.
Don't you get that his 10K Followered for 10K money is supposed to be fun, interactive and (for him) the best way to get a fan to say 'im interacting with an nhler'?
It raises the awareness for the charity (about 8,000 people now know what C.H.O.P is), raises his profile on twitter and makes the common fan feel like their interacting with an NHL player. OH YEAH AND A CHARITY GETS TEN FREAKING THOUSAND DOLLARS. It's time to STOP comparing it to your 250$. It's ten grand. Until you give ten grand to a charity and get nothing in return you really shouldn't bash him doing it.
PS, stop being a cranky pants. Dude's doing a good thing. Don't give him credit if you don't want but stop bitching about it.
complaints like this are reasons why NHLers are forced off or never join twitter. He's doing a good thing. How can this be misconstrued?!
I agree with the sentiment, why not just go ahead and donate the money? -- a tweet such as "just dropped off my check ay the C.H.O.P. Help support them here, too" and link to an electronic donation page, would serve the same purpose. Hospital gets the money, player gets the publicity of people knowing he made a donation, and three hospital gets more notice.
That being said, if you're going to argue about percentage of salary...double check your math. You're off by a factor of 100. It's not quite as insignificant: 0.29%
Goodness. .29% = .0029 * your annual salary.
Math, how does that work?
If that gimmick bothers you then you should see the lengths to which people will go in order to gain followers (subscribers/viewers) on Youtube. They will go so far as to intentionally categorize videos incorrectly to place them in less competitive groups. Not to mention that some will pay to be featured or have any sort of affiliation with a much more popular user, even if there is no correlation between the two.
At least with NHL players on twitter, the motivation for self-promotion is hard to find since there is little to no direct effect on anything but a players ego. Unlike Youtube where partnered users actually gain income based on those figures.
Not that you care much about Youtube or anything like that. But just saying this is a small irrelevant thing compared to many other similar stunts that go on.
10 K is more than you're probably ever going to donate, so stop complaining.
It's possible, maybe possible, that by following Carle, more people will get more interested and invested in the Flyers, and in turn, the NHL?
If you are truly a hockey fan, there is no loser is this WHOLE equation! Carle wins, the league wins, the fans win, and most importantly... CHOP wins.
Thanks for pointing out the math error. I understood the math, just typed it wrong.
It's a cop out answer to dismiss me because I can't donate an equal amount as Matt Carle. I have limited means in comparison and if you break it down in to relative terms what's the differnece between his commitment and mine?
Yes it's more for the charity, but why does he have to make it about followers as well? Why can't he just give the money?
So if Carle just tweets he donated the money and never asks for followers does that somehow make him less interesting?
I'm guessing if someone didn't choose to follow him before, being told to do so simply as a charity gimmick isn't going to make them jump on the NHL bandwagon.
So... who's losing or getting hurt or taken advantage of in this situation....?
Wow. Just wow. I find it amusing that you care so much about something that means so little. And the level of vitriol here is astounding. Is it because he's a Flyer? Is that a good enough reason?
He's stated that he's doing this to introduce himself to fans on Twitter and that he's going to donate anyway. Seriously, there's a quote about mountains and molehills that applicable here.
I would say I care about it not too much at all. I made a light hearted joke on twitter however and was inundated with many comments about how I'm against charity and the like. I thought it was a polarizing topic and worth blogging about. He could easily have introduced himself to the fanbase without pandering for followers. Tweet something of value, that's how you get people to follow you.
Wow. How do you even write something like this? Did your head explode when LeBron did his self-promoting "Decision"? Because to rip on Carle for something like this is just mind-blowing.
Carle said, "I wanted to get involved with a local charity, and I thought this would be a fun way to do it." End of story. This is a way to promote the charity, CHOP, not Matt Carle.
He has a total of 19 tweets so far, in 6 days. Yeah, he's obviously an egotistical maniac that is trying to take over the world through Twitter.
You're such a petty, petty human.
I've found fun ways to be involved in multiple charities and I don't remember needing to make anyone follow me as part of those processes.
Amazing how things seem to be only black and white with you people. No room for anyone to have an opinion. Still searching my original text for "egotistical maniac", I'll let you know when I find it.
"Hey everyone I just donated to CHOP!"
BOOM! Promoted! How easy was that?
Your whole article was about how this is a gimmick for him to get 10,000 followers. Maybe it's a way to introduce 10,000 people to the Children's Hospital.
Not to mention he got the idea from an ex teammate who did the same thing. I'm sure you read that somewhere in all the articles you researched before you wrote this. And I imagine you'll be posting another article very shortly ripping him as well.
As for your multiple charities...I don't know anything about them. However, I do know about Matt Carle's now.
Just because the Sens suck doesn't mean you have to belittle a player from the first place Flyers who is trying to do a good thing. Dick.
How much money have YOU donated to charity lately? Not one red cent I bet. Quit complaining because Carle more than likely would have donated the money even if he failed to reach his goal. Geez, haters will always hate and people like you will find any reason to complain. You should focus your energy on writing a blog on something that actually matters instead of complaining about someone doing a good deed. waaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Would people not be introduced to the charity if he just tweeted about a donation he made there?
The article is about how I don't understand why a player has to throw in a gimmick for followers as well as donating to chartiy. He's not donating to charity to get followers, but tweeting about donating to charity and asking you to follow, that's the gimmick. Why can't he just tweet that he made a donation? No one has answered this question yet.
As for other players, David Peron did the same thing. I didn't need to look that one up, usually most people don't have to do research if they're writing about their own opinion. Besides the post is not about Matt Carle or David Peron, it's about players in general, you might know that if you read the whole thing.
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Some of you commenters should focus your energy on reading the entire post and maybe then I wouldn't have to repeat my point down here. As for how much I've donated to charity well I'll show you my tax receipts if you show me yours. Those are the ones adressed to anonymous right?
Oh, and thanks everyone for reading too!
You're a dumbass, mr speedwagon.
I'm of two minds on this:
He's doing it for charity and yes, his own self promotion but tons of public figures do that. If a good cause is benefiting and he's not doing anything illegal, is there really any harm done? If you can't stand his tweets then why not just unfollow him afterwards? If he had said "If I get 10K followers I'll eat 10K sandwiches" He'd still get the same surge of followers and I doubt he'd be criticized near as much except by maybe health care professionals.
That said, it's no better than those Facebook pages saying "I'll donate $1 for every person who likes this page". The people who participate feel like they've done enough and have contributed simply by clicking a button and then completely forgetting about it after. There may be the odd person that will be introduced to a charity/cause they'll end up continuing to support but I'm betting it's rather small odds.
All this as a way of saying that yes, what Carle did is hokey and shameless self-promotion. You don't have to like it but at least there's some good coming out of it.
Oh and also: everybody try to stay polite eh?
http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2011/2/8/1982651/believe-it-or-not-people-are-mad-at-matt-carle-for-donating-to#storyjump
I think this article pretty much sums up my feelings. I mean, honestly? You're gonna blast the guy for donating to charity?
Matt Carle isn't exactly an egomaniac--actually, he's from Alaska, and he spends most of his off-season fishing--and since he's already stated he will donate the money regardless, it hardly stands to reason that this is a gimmick or a publicity stunt. If you read too much into anything, you're bound to come out with biased information--this whole thing is merely an attempt by Matt Carle to both donate to a good cause and integrate himself into the until-last-week-unkown world of Twitter.
"We kinda went [to CHOP] over Christmas and got to go cruise around and meet some of the kids. It's a good opportunity to kinda go there and see what they're all about. I wanted to get involved in a local charity here, and I thought that was a good way to do it." - Matt Carle
you're $250 is 40 TIMES SMALLER THEN HIS $10,000.00!!
Just because he earns it faster then you does not mean it's worth any less then your $10,000.00. That's called 'economics'.
OH YEAH AND A CHARITY GETS TEN FREAKING THOUSAND DOLLARS. It's time to STOP comparing it to your 250$. It's ten grand. Until you give ten grand to a charity and get nothing in return you really shouldn't bash him doing it.
PS, stop being a cranky pants. Dude's doing a good thing. Don't give him credit if you don't want but stop bitching about it.
Okay, you've completely missed my point, here. I changed the numbers for the sake of a) my salary and b) the size of my follower list, but the principle remains. I was gonna donate, anyway. (I typically do $200-$300 per year, depending on my means in any given period.) I was gonna get the followers, anyway, if I'm at all worth following (230 wooo!). So why the false extortion?
As for the bit in the middle...Matt Carle can interact with fans who care to do so just fine without pretending to hold a charitable donation hostage. If he wants more fans following him, why not offer up a signed, game-worn jersey to the 10,000th follower? There you go. Now you're not putting a charitable donation at (false) risk, it's still fun, and it still encourages people to follow and interact with him. And he can add other conditions to the carrot to encourage further interaction as he desires. Whatever. But this just looks bad and seems pointless from any angle I attack it from.
complaints like this are reasons why NHLers are forced off or never join twitter. He's doing a good thing. How can this be misconstrued?!
#DanEllisProblems
Matt Carle has got to be one of the nicest guys in hockey. He's very humble & has never come across as an egomaniac. If anything he couldn't be further from it. To slam a guy for this is pathetic. Since he just joined twitter most fans would have followed him regardless but by him adding the donation incentive makes it sweeter. Kudos to Matt Carle, I was a huge fan before but an even bigger one now!
Here's a thought:
Carle says nothing does his donation, CHOP has $10,000 and life goes on. I'm sure knowing the Flyers and how hard they work for Charity in Philly that he's already been quite generous with his time and Money.
Instead, Carle brings his little donation idea to twitter, people follow him knowing that they're doing their little part to help the Charity. And at least one of them, Me, gets out his chequebook and makes his own small donation to his own local Children's hospital because Matt Carle's 'stunt' made him feel good and inspired him to do his own good.
If even a hand full of the eventual number of followers Carle gets follows his example, then more than $10,000 gets donated.
Here's a though for next time: If you don't appreciate what somebody is doing on twitter, don't follow them. People that are dumping on Matt Carle for how he is using his new twitter account, when it was obvious it was a way to have a little fun are just a bunch of bitter no-lifers.
Sad.
One of my close friends works at CHOP and has been extremely busy as well as excited about contributing to a wonderful institution. No matter how funds get there, they are used for good. More people should act as Carle to encourage funds for charity.
Btw, I'm a Flyers fan, so fuck you for being a d-bag.
what a little punk you are, Mr Heatley's saladtosser. quit being a little bitch because the Sens blow. again.
Do you seriously think that Matt Carle cares how many followers he gets on twitter? You say that you have found fun ways to be involved in multiple charities, well maybe you should try and get people to follow you as a new way. I am sure that out of those 10,000 followers that he will definitely get regardless of the donation or not that a few of them will also pull out their cheque books and make a donation to CHOP as well. Hmmm, what a concept eh? get 10,000 people to know what charity is of interest to you and even if they got another $1 per person, WOW the $10k donation by Matt is now $20k or more. It's all about the charity not Matt Carle needing an ego boost...LMAO!!
If you really think that an athlete making $3M plus a year would renege on a donation to a Children's Hospital because he did not get the followers on Twitter you need to have your head examined. Don't like the way he said that then don't follow him, it's pretty simple really or follow him and maybe make a donation as well yourself. Any amount of money donated to a worthwhile charity all helps, whether it's Matt's $10k or even $10 or $100 from someone like me or you and who cares if people know about your donation or not?
You seem like a pretty smart person, just wandering why you would shout out against the way that anybody goes about giving money to a charity. If that is the way the individual makes themselves feel good about it then so be it, they know it's not about them!!
BTW I am a Flyers fan that lives in Ottawa, so I can understand if this is your way of blowing off some steam for the crappy season the Sens are having....LOL!!
I don't know you, so I'll spare you the insults you deserve..Your blog is a classic example of the overwhelming amount of useless words spewed out on a daily basis. There is just no way you can defend your position, blasting a guy for donating money to sick children, no matter what method he uses. Judging from your inane post, I seriously doubt anything I write would sink in, but you'll get the karma you deserve, trust me
Are you people really this dumb?? The reason for using the twitter "ploy" as you all so elequently degrade it, is to raise awareness. If he got 10 followers he'd still give to charity. The Philadelphia Flyers are on of the most charitable organizations in Sports and CHOP is a local charity at that. So the fact that bloggers ran with the story, a menial one at that, is the only reason it appears so shady to all of you.
I'm embarrassed to be a human being when I read stuff like this.
STFU, loser fan of a loser team! Quit bitching about somebody giving money to charity. You sound like a whiney asshole.
Relax dude. Its just Twitter. No need to get your panties in a bunch because a hockey player is using a 'gimmick' as you say to gain followers. I'm 100% sure he would donate the money regardless so the money isn't the issue.
The issue is he'll have more followers than you. I forgot the internets is serious business
DHspeedwagon,
Does following his twitter account impact the quality of life you live? Does donating to a childrens hospital impact the quality of life of someone?
Tell me how it ultimately matters if there's an extra tweet in your life?
Dick Head Speedwagon,
Are you serious with this article, or is this YOUR ploy to get people to read your poorly written blogs?
You said: Tweet something of value, that's how you get people to follow you.
He did. He was getting fans involved and giving something back. He is inspiring other people to do the same. I know I plan on following suit and donating to a charity of my choice.
Maybe if you weren't such a cynical prick you might have felt the same way.
But I'm sure you feel everything you tweet Is of value. I'm sure everyone on twitter only tweets something of value. Give me a break. People use it as another social tool and some use it to promote something valuable, like a childen's hospital.
You're a tool.
Based on your lovely comment, I guess your value is only about 700 followers. Sorry that gives you so much angst :(
The entire basis of your assumption is that Matt Carle in some way gives a crap about having a twitter following. He would have one regardless, even if he wasn't attempting to promote a charity.
Tag this under "No good deed goes unpunished" and "bitter nobody with low self esteem"
WORST CRITIQUE EVER.
(a) I bet you know more about CHOP now then you ever did before Matt Carle's twitter account
(b) how do you know how much Matt Carle spends on charity? Why is it only .29% of his salary. He could be spending thousands more on other things that you or his twitter followers ave no idea about.
You sir, are a nincompoop.
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You apparently are an idiot and that isn't just some 'name calling'. You simply are too stupid to see the illogic of your own argument.
First, this has nothing to do with the money and whether you donate to charity yourself.
But even you admit it goes beyond just Carle's donation, that there is value to his promoting the cause:
""Hey everyone I just donated to CHOP!"
BOOM! Promoted! How easy was that?"
yet, you're too stupid to figure out that there is a difference between tweeting that to 10 followers and 10,000 followers?...
you can make the greatest plea for a cause ever, but if no one is there to hear it, it does no good...
Twitter is just a medium to get a message out, but without people following, you might as well not even bother typing the 140 characters.
Listen, you seem like a smart person and you are entitled to your opinion, but honestly, how stupid can you sound? Are you really posting something like this? I really don't even know where to start. The fact is that it's ten grand. Ten grand more than what C.H.O.P. has right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped the cash even if he didn't reach the milestone. Why don't you get off your ass and do something about it or make a small donation yourself? You could easily donate 2% of what you make right now, no matter how minuscule it is compared to what you make annually. But have you? You'd rather just write an article on someone else's "gimmick." Get your head out of your ass.
No offense but Carle doesn't care what you think! He hit the 10K followers mark tonite!
"Dick". "D-Bag". "Tool". "Loser". "Dumbass". "STFU". "Punk". "Bitch".
Such eloquent and well presented rebuttals.
You stay classy, Philadelphia.