@JoelECarlson – Hello everybody in Twitterville! It’s time for the Twitterview with @KARE11 sports guy @Dave_Schwartz. Lets play!

@Dave_Scwartz – Lets do this!

Q – #1    So @Dave_Schwartz, tell us a little about where you grew up and what kind of schooling/jobs you had up until today.

A: Well @JoelECarlson, Grew up in upstate NY. Went to Hobart College, then got my masters at Syracuse. Jobs in Bemidji, Shreveport, LA & KARE

Q – #2    So have you always had jobs around sports, or is that something that developed over time?

A: Always sports. @JoelECarlson I love news and have a great respect for it. But don’t think I could ever stay serious long enough to do it.

Q – #3    Did you play sports in Jr High & High School? If so, which ones, and what position(s)?

A: Played many sports. Mainly Football & ice hockey. Football I played left out and a little LB. Hockey (my fav) I was a center

Q – #4    Good state for you to work in then! re:Hockey @matthewworkman says you covered Hurricane Rita. How so?

A: No kidding I love covering hockey here. Especially the HS tournament. @JoelECarlson. LOL Yeah I did cover hurriance Katrina..

When I was in Shreveport, LA we did a HS football show on a Friday night and the Hurraice was coming in over night…

So my News director asked me if I would come back at 4AM and do live shots in the rain.

He said since I was the largest member of the news staff I’d be safe out in the wind. LOL. It was actaully a lot of fun

Q – #5    With concrete galoshes on right? :) In MN, what is maybe 1 or 2 of your favorite stories that you’ve covered?

A: Hey I am from NY, I know about concrete shoes :) @JoelECarlson. Tough call on favorite stories…Probably #2 would be a story I did

On an 8th grade kid in Mound who played football..despite having no legs. He refused to wear prosthetic legs too.

It was very inspirational. @JoelECarlson. His positivity was contagious

I have to admit though the best story ever..was covering game #163 at the dome two seasons ago with the Twins

Thats just two…I have about a million more that have been great.

@JoelECarlson – I think you have “fans” of your and your work in @matthewworkman, @GRLitman and @rstanzel. :)

@Dave_Schwartz – Workman is a former co-worker and the other two are just buddies i’ve met in passing.

@GRLitman is actually a former sports producer…That is until he went to the dark side!

@rstanzel and I are not friends. He is a die -ard Yankee fan. Although I do respect him professionally :)

Q – #6    I can imagine. So how long have you been at @KARE11 now, and how is it working with @PerkAtPlay?

A: I have been here for just over 3 years and that is probably the most common question I get asked….

Working with @PerkAtPlay is like working with Rain man. He’s out there..totally random..and most times, pure genius!

Q – #7    @Dave_Schwartz LOL! So Dave. What are your top 5 most favorite sports? From least to greatest.

A: #5 Basketball #4 Olympic Curling #3 Baseball, #2 Football, #1 HOCKEY!!!

Q – #8    Interesting. Do you find that with so MANY outlets for sports-news, it’s harder to keep things original & fresh?

A: Absolutely. @JoelECarlson. BUT what we can do is provide different content that you can’t get in the national media.

Like Prep sports, or @PerkatPlay (the segment not the guy), or my segment with @VShiancoe ‘Whats Eatiing Visanthe?”

Record Wreckers (@david_watkins)@JoelECarlson. The key is to give people the bread & butter stuff that you have to get out there

But also make sure you have some great side dishes as well.@JoelECarlson. Also in MN, we get over looked a lot by the nat’l media

So that helps…

Q – #9    True. You can have customized programming, but I’d imagine @KFAN & @1500ESPN takes some “thunder” away. As well as SM.

A: Sure. I think that is where social media comes in. Using to establish yourself as someone who can deliver news

Then (u hope) they turn to your station when news breaks. Wanting what you have to offer (knowlege, your take, etc.)

Q – #10    Some more about you… Favorite: Restaurant, store, city outside of MN, non-MN athlete & interviewer (local or Nat’l).

A: Fav Restaurant: @salutfranceave (amazing fries). I am a sucker for technology stores (Brookstone, Best Buy, etc.)

Favorite city outside of MN: probably Washington, D.C…but Rapid City, SD is close (loved camping there with my wife)

Favorite non-mn athlete, Wayne Gretzky — was my idol growing up.

Fav. Interviewer is Dan Patrick. He always seems to have a great rapport with athletes and gets great answers

Q – #11    While you answer the previous question…To end, what life advice or mantra would you like to share today?

A: Sure @JoelECarlson. Never turn down advice from anyone, even if its negative….

You learn more from someone who is being critical than someone who loves your work….I definitely live by that!

@JoelECarlson – Thank you very much @Dave_Schwartz for your comments and time today. I enjoyed it, I hope you did. :) When will you be on TV again?

@Dave_Schwartz – Thanks for having me! I’m anchoring the 6&10 pm sports tonight and tomorrow. So I should probably get to work :)

@JoelECarlson – Hello all to the Twitterview of @wabbitoid (Erik Hare). Lets get started.

@wabbitoid – Hello, everyone!

Thanks for having me, Joel – I really appreciate it!

Q – #1    To start, please share where you grew up and what schooling/jobs you’ve done up until now.

A: I grew up in Perrine, FL, just south of Miami near the Keys. Went to school at CMU in Pittsburgh (BS ChemE).

I worked for 3M for 16 years, mostly in R&D. Took a buyout in 03, worked for the UofM in R&D.

In order to have more time with my kids I went into freelancing, mostly grant writing for nonprofits until about a year ago

Today I do many things, incl. web content writing, SM consulting and strategic planning for nonprofits.

Q – #2    Good for you to “make your own way” in the work that you do! Which kind of work drives you the most?

A: I’m most excited about SM consulting because I found a very fun niche that goes with my experience as a community activist.

I like to work with very small businesses,mostly as a coach but sometimes as a website crafter and content provider.

Many of my referrals come from District Councils. I really enjoy using social media to empower small neighborhood biz.

I guess I’m still an idealist at heart, but I want the ‘net to live up to its promise. That means increased access / diversity / etc

@wabbitoid – (I guess I should write a big honkin’ grant for m’self to do this stuff, but I’m terrible at self promo!)

Q – #3    I see. What are some of the fears or hangups that you’ve found amongst businesses new to the SM world?

A: Many small bizzes hear all the jargon and so on and fear that they have to learn a LOT of stuff they don’t have time for.

Also, many paid big $$$ to put up a static website that got them little return on investment, so they’ve been burned.

I emphasize strategic planning first because we’re talking entrepeneurs with little time, they have to make the most of it.

But most of the people I talk to are looking for a pretty basic education and hard look at potential return on investment, really.

You show them how to use the metrics and build in coupons etc. to related it all to the bottom line and they’ll give it a try!

Q – #4    Good for you! Good work! Do you give any attention to geo-location SM yet, or start ppl with the basics?

A: I do very little with that. Honestly, just waiting for foresquare to get back to me can take for-evah.

You hit what I have vowed to educate m’self on very quickly here. (>blush!<) I’m trying to figure out what the return is.

You hit what I have vowed to educate m’self on very quickly here. (>blush!<) I’m trying to figure out what the return is.

@JoelECarlson – I see it as creating location/brand loyalty. Also providing ppl that check-in with a reason to continue to do so.

Q – #5    Lets get to more about you and your FAVS: restaurant, store, winter activity and tech gadget.

A: OK, the favs – not a gadget person at all, would have to say my very cool wok from Shuang Hur :-)

Store has to be Seven Corners Hardware – always has what I need.

As an ex Floridian (even after 23 years!) I reserve the right to remain inactive all Winter and just gripe about it. :-)

On geo-location – It’s fun to encourage, but what’s the role for owners? If FS got back to me I’d have rewards all over the place.

Q – #6    The role of owners is creating incentives (badges,deals) for people to come back and check-in over and over. Restaurant?

A: We should have a speed-tweeting contest. As a web content writer I have to type insanely fast. :-)

Restaurant … I love to cook, so I often go for adventure and schooling first. Love a place that teaches me something.

I think my fave restaurant right now is probably India House on Grand Avenue, St Paul. Just a very well done Indian place, good price

Q – #7    To close, what life lesson or mantra would you like to share with everyone?

A: Oh, sure, ask the wannabe philosopher a question like that … :-)

As a Taoist I can think of many things I’d like to say, but few fit in 140 chars (at least not in English, they don’t!)

I’ll use 3 from my quotes page – “Anything will reveal its secrets if you love it enough.” George Washington

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” The Lorax (via Dr. Seuss)

“We are the dreamers of dreams.” Willy Wonka (via Roald Dahl)

IRL I quote Willy Wonka all the time. So I have to close with that one. :-)

@JoelECarlson – Thanks @wabbitoid for sharing today and spending some time on #jectv. Have a great afternoon and stay warm.

@wabbitoid – Thanks @JoelECarlson – it was fun! A great time!