I know everyone thinks that gossip gets spread across the internet faster than was ever possible from person to person. This is true in an overall sense as word can spread faster digitally when it can be shared with thousands with a click of a mouse button.
But when it comes to being one of the first to know some juicy gossip, I know where to go when I want some quick intel. It is not Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram. Once the information is out on those social networks, then it is no longer juicy info for long. Everyone knows so it loses its importance. Being one of the first couple of people to know about an event has a special feeling of power.
Some of the best gossip never makes it online since it is only trusted by one or two people. Some careful folks know who they can share secrets with and who not to trust.
I cannot count the times I have come home and heard my wife talking about this person or that person involved in some kind of marital scandal. She has seen it on Facebook and is trying to “break the story” to me. She is quite deflated when I tell her I heard about it days ago in person at the beer store where my best friend operates.
Hundreds of real people come through his doors on a daily basis and many like to hang out and just chat. He hears it all, from divorce talk to fights at schools, to local sports news, and even the latest criminal activities.
He relays that talk to me or I catch it myself when I am hanging around there. The gossip he hears doesn’t get spread as fast as it would on social platforms, but he hears it first.
A similar point could be made with Jay Glazer of Fox Sports. The guy gets all the breaking NFL news before ESPN, which can easily afford a team of reporters to seek out any and all football news. How does he do it?
He doesn’t scour Twitter all day for leads on stories. He knows people and those people like him and trust him enough to give him tips first. He is a real person who wants to help do his job.
Of course, Jay Glazer then announces to the sports world his findings, and that info gets spread quickly on the web. But as I said, once it is there anyone can get it. He gets it first. That is the difference between in-person gossip and internet gossip. Reality still rules.
