Rumors persisted for two days regarding the employment status of Texas Tech football defensive coordinator Chad Glasgow.
Tuesday afternoon, CBS reporter Bruce Feldman posted via Twitter that Glasgow has been fired by head coach Tommy Tuberville. The report almost instantly spread among sports websites, Facebook and Twitter.
Suddenly, plugged-in Tech football fans were all "a-Twitter", wondering about the validity of the report.
Lost in the maelstrom of sparse information and rampant speculation that ensued ... the truth.
Tech has denied that Glasgow's status has changed.
There's a chance that the uncertainty had an impact on Tech's haul on National Signing Day for spring enrollees.
A highly sought after junior college recruit from California, Kasseim Everett, announced in an elaborate ceremony that he was going to sign with Tech, even donning a Tech hat for the announcement.
But his letter of intent never came in. Now it's confirmed, initially through several blogs, that Everett had a sudden change of heart and signed with Oklahoma instead. It's a shocker ... fanned by social media.
Texas Tech's John Wirtz, who studies and teaches social media, talked with FOX 34 about the problems that can arise from such instantaneous communication.
"There is a certain amount of cache that comes from being the first person to post something or Tweet something, and that is true with people who are journalists or bloggers or just everyday individuals," Wirtz said. "They want to be the person who says 'Wow I got there out or yeah I was the first to put that out there'. I also encourage students and users to take a moment, pause, and think about whether the information is true, whether it's accurate, what is the source of the information. Don't overestimate the fact that someone sent a Tweet out so it's true."
