That Didn’t Take Long, Now Did It: Keith Olbermann’s Covering the State Of The Union, Via Twitter

by Mark Joyella | 1:36 pm, January 25th, 2011

» 21 comments

You didn’t actually think Keith Olbermann would go away quietly, did you? The former MSNBC star and Countdown host has kicked off the next phase of his mercurial career with plans to cover tonight’s State of the Union address. He won’t be on the anchor desk at NBC, of course, but on his couch (or something) covering the speech–and the reaction–via Twitter.

Olbermann, who made a triumphant (too strong?) return to Twitter last night, promising “the reports of the death of my career are greatly exaggerated.”

Olbermann also debuted his own hashtag, #FOK (Friends of Keith) and managed to fire up his massive Twitter following, sending his name into Twitter’s “Trending Topics” worldwide within 45 minutes of his return.

Now, it turns out, #FOK is also the name of his fledgling one-man news operation: “This is an update from #FOK News. Tonight’s State of the Union will be live-tweeted by our team. Well, by one of the guys. OK – by me.”

Much has been made about Olbermann’s next step–and whether it could include a web presence. It’s interesting to note–as Damon Kiesow does today on Poynter–that Olbermann may have lost his platform at MSNBC, but he’s brought a huge chunk of his audience with him: “With nearly 200,000 Twitter followers, Olbermann’s online audience is almost 20 percent the size of his typical TV audience.”

And so #FOK News is up and running. Will you be watching? Er, reading?

#fok news, keith olbermann, State of the Union

Obtuse

First Palin’s facebook. Now Olbermann’s twitter. Ridiculous.
notsofast

A psychiatrist should cover the state of KO’s mind, if he can find one.
tatboy

So a bunch of FOKing Kos kids are going to watch the SOTU and jerk off to every tweet??? Take a shot every time Keith twets about Obama’s oritory skills.
murf

#dumbFOKs
rocky road

This guy would do anything to stay relevant. Note to olbermann…. you got canned, the far left grieved for a day or two and got over it. His fear is that like Rich Sanchez and David Shuster before him, he will become a thing of the past. Mediaite, are you going to have front page stories (i know, they are all front page) everything he twitters? Will he pay you to keep him relevant? You have propped up Stewart and Maddow though the majority of americans don’t know who they are. Now we will get breaking news……… Olbermann twitters. Maybe this site has lost its luster and is now a shorter version of the Huff Post.
notsofast

MG, that’s a picture of Mark David Chapman!

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/413/000025338/mark_david_chapman_mug-smaller.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/413/000025338/&h=300&w=225&sz=20&tbnid=66ADy2tl6PRq-M:&tbnh=116&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMark%2BDavid%2BChapman%2Bpictures&zoom=1&q=Mark+David+Chapman+pictures&usg=__8iNwLgn8zasqbTo3fK03IblZXA0=&sa=X&ei=OSU_TarlOtTOgAeW1bW-CA&ved=0CCcQ9QEwAw
PoliticalPAW

Q about SOTU: Will Barack cease his NBC employee Immelt’s “journalistic standards”? @keitholbermann http://tinyurl.com/4qhvctp @davidshuster http://tinyurl.com/4r5fzrg “homosexual pejorative” rants

a few “teabaggers” too many for Comcast?
timzank

PoliticalPAW said:
Q about SOTU: Will Barack cease his NBC employee Immelt’s “journalistic standards”? @keitholbermann http://tinyurl.com/4qhvctp @davidshuster http://tinyurl.com/4r5fzrg “homosexual pejorative” rants a few “teabaggers” too many for Comcast?

Thanks for those clips! Only the loons that watch msnbc really saw them, can you imagine if the average viewer of NBC Nightly news saw that on the 6:30 network news?

That’s what comcast understands, msnbc’s playful little skits and word play (it ain’t news) reflects poorly on the whole network.
http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

Hey, is that a pic of Olbermann when he was just a mean, miserable high-schooler?
timzank

NORBIT Jr. said:
Hey, is that a pic of Olbermann when he was just a mean, miserable high-schooler?

Yep, back then he was known as “fagbait”.
tatboy

timzank said:
Yep, back then he was known as “fagbait”.

Seriously dude??? No need to go there. Olbermann gives you enough on his own. You don’t need to go that route.
timzank

tatboy said:
Seriously dude??? No need to go there. Olbermann gives you enough on his own. You don’t need to go that route.

Oh Lighten up.
MediaiteCensorsSux

KO, go away!!!
Probably NOT wrong

notsofast said:
MG, that’s a picture of Mark David Chapman! http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/413/000025338/mark_david_chapman_mug-smaller.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/413/000025338/&h=300&w=225&sz=20&tbnid=66ADy2tl6PRq-M:&tbnh=116&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMark%2BDavid%2BChapman%2Bpictures&zoom=1&q=Mark+David+Chapman+pictures&usg=__8iNwLgn8zasqbTo3fK03IblZXA0=&sa=X&ei=OSU_TarlOtTOgAeW1bW-CA&ved=0CCcQ9QEwAw

It’s Rachel Maddow!
Look again. Notsofast.
Almost impossible to miss that!
kit9

God, Keith’s desperation is hilarious! He’s forever the fat kid trying desperately to sit at the cool kids table and failing miserably. Oh, and that pic! Even before he started tipping the scales at 350, he still wasn’t remotely attractive. Oh how I’ll miss his pear shaped hulking body..those child bearing hips, that massive doughy midsection, that orange spray tan skin……..but I’ll always have…

‘up with which we dare no longer put!!!!!!!!’

Well said, Keith, well said.
Scott_in_MI

NORBIT Jr. said:
Hey, is that a pic of Olbermann when he was just a mean, miserable high-schooler?

No, that’s probably when some mediocre girl in high school turned him down because “he’s creepy.” It was at that point that his violent fantasies about beating/raping females first entered his mind…of course, we all know those sick, demented fantasies never left his misognistic mind as similiar fantasies crossed his mind as an adult.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/4/25/132751/725

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/10/13/olbermann-without-fascistic-hatred-malkin-just-mashed-bag-meat-lipsti
Some_Dude

On one hand, I find it kind of sad that the man can’t help himself and has to immediately thrust himself back into the media, in any way, so soon after leaving his gig.

On the other, Twitter is more active than most news outfits, and he does want to maintain the value of his brand. If that’s what you want to call it (I guess I just did).

Whatever, he was already in my feed anyways.
realitycheck

He is a funny little man, that Olbermann… Its Bad enough for him he was always crushed by FOX News, but this has to be the ultimate a cry for help… #FOK News.
Cancon2

Bathtub Boy is so talented. Wow, I love waiting for his words of wisdom. Please more stories about this loser soon huh?
Color Me Badd

timzank said:
Oh Lighten up.

ur done.
dhg

Olbermann takes to twitter to desperately try to remain relevant while no realizing that he never really was.

Hey Keith there’s 99 weeks of unemployment out there waiting for you.