Social Media Breakdown: Joel Sherman

T: @Joelsherman1

Joel Sherman has been in the sports writing industry for over 30 years, starting at United Press International in 1984 before joining the New York Post as the Yankees beat writer in 1989. Since then, he has become one of the foremost names in baseball reporting, and in addition to his column with the Post, is an MLB Network Insider and is regularly seen on the hit shows, MLB Tonight, MLB Now, and the offseason daily morning show, Hot Stove.

Similar to his co-MLB Network Insider Ken Rosenthal, Sherman joined Twitter in 2009 and now has a following of over 148,000 people. He keeps his talk about baseball, because it’s what he knows and what he is known for. However, while his followership is high for the average person, his counterparts in the industry, such as senior ESPN writer Zach Lowe (565,000) and Fox Sports reporter Jon Morosi (247,000), it is relatively low.

Perhaps this is because while he keeps his tweets short, a positive aspect, they can sometimes be so short as almost to lack substance. It may also be in part because of his lack of a well-rounded online presence. While he is active on Twitter, he maintains no other official social media accounts. Nearly all of his colleagues maintain Facebook pages with thousands of likes, some even have Instagram and YouTube accounts.

Sherman’s greatest downfall might be his lack of self-promotion. While e is a leading voice in the baseball world, his social media following and presence does not reflect this. With minor tweaks in his strategy, he could bolster his impact very he