Thursday, November 5, 2009

Interview with Rob Peterson of AOL Fanhouse

Rob Peterson is a well-known online sports writer and editor who started back in 1990 as an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. With over 15 years experience in the field, Rob has covered just about every sport you can think of. In 1994 he worked as a sports editor for the Delavan Enterprise, where he wrote and edited a weekly sports section. The following year he attended grad school at Northwestern, earning a masters degree, and began working for AOL. Rob has worked for NBA.com, interviewing different players and coaches as well as writing columns, features and blogs for the site.

Peterson is currently working as an editor for Fanhouse on AOL and can also be found tweeting to all his followers and sports fans daily; updating them with news and thoughts from current games and topics on Twitter.

I was given a chance to talk with Rob on the phone about his career and his thoughts on online journalism.

Q: How has technology impacted your career over the years?

A: I actually began blogging back in 1996 working for Extreme Fans on AOL. I was about 25 years old and really didn’t even know what blogging was, it hadn’t really gotten its name yet” We called it the “nightly wrap up”.

Q:
How has social media changed it?

A: In 2007 at the NBA All-Star Game, a buddy of mine helped me sign up for Twitter. I didn’t really get involved with it until this last year. When I use it for work, I use it as a newswire. It’s a good short way of getting information out.


Q:
What do you think about players in the league blogging and tweeting?

A: Recently Dwight Howard had his One Millionth Twitter follower flown down to Orlando for their home opener. It allows athletes to connect with fans in ways they never could before. It’s a good thing; it shows that these players can be right, wrong, angry and sad. They are all human and these social networks show people that although they have super human abilities, they still have feelings.

Q: What do you see as the future of online sports coverage?

A: I’ve been seeing a lot more journalists realize how broad the fan base is online. Traditional journalists are switching over to online sports coverage.

Q: What are the advantages of covering games online vs. print?

A: The distribution online just has a wider scope. The amount of space available is unlimited and the deadlines are flexible.

Q: What is your current status as an online journalist?

A: I am currently working as an editor for FanHouse.com on AOL.

Q: Where do you see online journalism in the next five years?

A: Good question. I'm not sure. As I said earlier, I had no idea Twitter would explode as it has. Then again, I don't know if you can get smaller than 140 characters.

Q: What are the biggest perks of writing for the sports industry?

A: Seeing some of the greatest sporting events essentially for free. Can't beat that price.

Rob recently introduced the public to his own column on AOL Fanhouse called the Stinkface Chronicles. Check it out!

Photo: http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/rob_peterson/04/07/eastern.insider.20090407

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