A couple days back the Daily Mail ran a piece reporting that Travis Parrot along with three other doubles players were believed to have swine flu. Apparently, he does not. So, like any hot-blooded young wrongly with a twitter feed, Travis took immediately to the jockosphere to clear his name, lest anyone think he had contracted a virus. He tweets:
For the record...I was not diagnosed with swine flu.
A few minutes later, Travis had apparently had time to grasp the humor in the situation, tweeting:
Too funny...just saw that article
Upon further reflection -- the kind of reflection that happens in fourteen minutes -- the potential ramifications of the article had apparently set in. Travis implores his fellow members of the twittersphere:
Can you guys do me a favor? Go to that article and leave a comment that I have confirmed on twitter that don't have swine flu.
He follows up with a personal message to the BBC, Andy Roddick, the Bryan Brothers and Jim Courier, which reads:
Help me spread the word that I was NOT diagnosed with swine flu.
The panic reached its climax when he sent a personal message to CNN, reaching out to them for assistance:
Can you guys help me out and spread the word that I do not have swine flu, unlike what the Daily Mail claimed earlier. Thanks!
When you're relying on CNN to disseminate your news, you know the situation is dire.
Notwithstanding the fact that Travis seems to be under some kind of misapprehension about how ashamed he would need to feel about having swine flu, this serves as further evidence that we are collectively moving in the direction of First-Person Communication.
When the press inaccurately reports that you've contracted the swine flu, why wait for a retraction when you can tweet it yourself.
Rumors and lies... Parrott Marches on to victory!!