templates – Techdirt (original) (raw)

NBA Rookie Is Just So Happy To Play For 'Team Name' In The City Of 'City'

from the put-dept.-subtitle-here dept

It ain’t easy being a high-profile celebrity these days. A job that once mostly involved ducking cameras and putting out the occasional press release has evolved into one where multiple social media platforms must be updated so that fans feel that real connection that can only come with a carefully managed social media message. The brand is the ultimate product rather than any athletic or artistic output. To that end, even these social media messages come with sponsorships, carefully cultivated relationships with large companies itching to attach their names to well-followed celebrities and their social media accounts.

Speaking of athletes, the NBA draft just happened. Many young men realized their dream to play in the NBA after years of hard work. Because they are young, many of those athletes have social media accounts with the expected platforms. And many of them posted messages about how happy they were with the draft day results. Like Markelle Fultz, for instance, who was drafted number one overall by the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers and immediately took to Instagram to let his fans know completely, organically and authentically how pleased he was.

Oops. In case you can’t read the embedded tweet, Fultz said that he was “Excited to head to (City) and join the (team name)”, all while happily pointing out that the message was sponsored by watchmaker Tissot. Clearly this was a pre-written template to send out on Instagram once it had been filled in, except Fultz never filled it in. While he deleted the message shortly after, it’s unclear just how (insert emotion) Tissot was with the message.

More importantly, the curtain gets pulled back on Fultz’s engagement with his followers. Certainly it’s not the biggest deal in the world and most people are having a little light-hearted fun with Fultz’s faux pas, but it does strike me that anyone that saw his Instagram account as a way to honestly engage with him likely knows better now.

Fultz, meanwhile, can likely console himself with whatever insane amount of money a number one overall pick gets these days. Here’s hoping the Sixers don’t forget to fill in the direct deposit template.

Filed Under: markelle fultz, sponsorship, templates
Companies: instagram, nba

Google Scientists Successfully Split The Bill

from the with-some-help dept

theodp writes "Yes Virginia, there is a Techdirt reader at Google. It took a little public teasing, but Google has quietly fixed the formula bugs in its YouTube-hyped Shared House Expenses spreadsheet template, which can now correctly split roommates’ bills three ways (before and after). And so ends another episode of life imitating The Onion."

Filed Under: errors, math, spreadsheets, templates
Companies: google

Showcased Google Docs Spreadsheet Does Not Compute

from the zero-problem dept

theodp writes “Recently, Google debuted its new Google Docs Template Gallery, showcasing a Shared House Expenses spreadsheet template in a pretty elaborate YouTube Video as an example of ‘tools that just work.’ Only problem is, the popular five-star template still doesn’t work correctly. Thanks to its doesn’t-handle-zero-correctly bugs, the spreadsheet fails to always divide expenses properly, allowing one roommate to get away with contributing far less than his “Fare [sic] Share.” So did Google release the spreadsheet to gazillions of users without bothering to verify it worked, or did all those Googlers fail to recognize some pretty obvious mistakes?”

Filed Under: errors, math, spreadsheets, templates
Companies: google