Monday 15 August 2011

NHL and Social Media

Social media plays a huge part in the NHL world nowadays. As silly as it sounds, it's a fact and something we never had to deal with until recent years.
When a team makes a signing you can be sure to find it on Twitter within moments of it being announced. When a player ( not naming any names coughOBcough ) takes a topless picture with sexy women sitting on his lap, the world of social media will be sure to have the scoop .. and picture, within minutes of it happening. If you sign into Facebook and search for most NHL players, you will be sure to find at least one account under his name. Some players have 4, 5, and 6 accounts under their names.

When I first found some Canucks players on facebook, I was over the moon. Then I noticed all Canucks players suddenly opening Facebook accounts, and they would accept friends, update statuses and post pictures all at the same time.. One player updated his status on FB during the games, a couple players opened accounts with various versions of their names.. this, plus other clues, made me realize that there was a good chance that none of these accounts were the real deal. I never deleted them...  I wanted to keep my eyes on them, just in case ;) . There are a few players who could very well be the real deal, and I hope they are,  but until I have confirmation, I can not believe 100% that they are real... and that sucks ! All because people have nothing better to do than impersonate hockey players ? A harmless game in their minds maybe, but in reality it becomes a problem.

One day while surfing through my facebook, I saw this.
an Open Public letter on FB. NOT the real AB14

 The person pretending to be Burrows, has come clean. Now I don't feel he should be punished, and many people are leaving nice , supporting comments to him, but I do feel that fans and players need to be aware of these impersonations. Not only could it hurt a players reputation, but it could also make it difficult for the real players to use social media, which really isn't fair because as it is they are away from their friends and family for long periods of time. Facebook & Twitter could be options for players as a way of communication with loved ones, but not when so many issues arise from it.

Facebook does not verify accounts like Twitter does, but even being verified doesn't always help. Just a short while ago there were some Canucks fans/bloggers trying to lure Kevin Bieksa to Twitter, which brought out a few fakes. The fakes eventually admitted their wrong doing and deleted the accounts but for a short time it caused rumours & speculation. It also casts doubt in one's mind the next time they do see a players account.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to social media issues concerning NHLers. How about the whole Duco issue.. #freeduco is still trending on Twitter *sigh*. Not every person has common sense, not every fan knows how to show respect and not every player thinks ahead... which makes for a dangerous combination.  In a perfect world, none of this would matter, but we all know how perfect our world is ;)

Let's appreciate , respect and do our part in making the social media world a little easier for the guys to use. Kudos to the Burrs Facebook impersonator for coming clean publicly.. let's hope this prods a few more of the fakes to close their accounts & show some respect :)






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