It’s
very interesting how willing an NFL player is, to put their personal
information out on the open social media market. Pro football players have used
Social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, to report about their
injuries and personal lives.
Last
year, superstar Running back Arian Foster, of the Houston Texans, had a knee
injury during training camp. Before the injury, Foster was targeted to be
possibly the top overall pick in the average fantasy football manager’s draft….
While the media put a scare in GM’s saying that he would be out for a long
time, it was Foster that revealed the scariest information! He posted a picture
of a knee x-ray and talked about the “white stuff surrounding the knee, known
as anti-awesome stuff.” This caused him to go much later in drafts, for owners
were afraid to take a gamble on him for the fear that he would be injured for
most of the season… It turned out, he only missed a month, but this is a prime
example of how an NFL player used social media to influence Fantasy football
managers.
Another example is a guy like Chad
Johnson…. Yes, this is the guy that formerly changed his name to OchoCinco,
(which I always thought was pretty moronic.) Anywho, he got cut from the
Dolphins for allegedly head-butting his wife. His way of defending himself was
by posting on Twitter, saying he just “got in her face” and didn’t actually
headbutt her….. Whatever he “actually” did, it was not right, and because of
this, it led to him being cut from the team and without a job. In this case,
Johnson’s intention of defending himself on Twitter, did not work at all, but
it was a “solid” attempt to influence the media.
There are so many other cases of
NFL players using Twitter and other media outlets to talk about their personal
lives, or injuries they’ve had. It’s not just players, it’s columnists, coaches,
owners and GM’s. These thoughts that the players and others put out their have
significant influence in the decisions a fantasy GM makes. I know that if I
have Antonio Gates on my roster and he is listed as questionable, but then he
(Gates) posts on his facebook status that he WILL be playing, I’m going to
listen to the player and plug him in my lineup. The same goes if it is the
other way around. People listen to social media, and base their General
managerial decisions around what the social media buzz are. And if a player or
coach who we love posts something, 9 out 10 times we will listen to them.
I am absolutely in no way educated about sports, especially football,but I really enjoyed this blog post. The little I know about sports I gain from Twitter and Facebook, If someone posts about what team is playing, or what major play went on, that's how I know what happened.I had one teacher this year comment on how I was the only one who knew the football schedule for the week, I smiled and shrugged when he doubted me, but in my mind I kept it a secret that I read ESPN's tweet the night prior. So while Twitter can be harmful to some players (tweeting from their own accounts) it can help us less informed Twitter users seem more involved.
ReplyDelete-Allie Szostak
I have admit I was a bit reluctant to read your blog- not in a bad way, but just because I have no experience in Fantasy Football (my boyfriend is a pro, though). I had never thought social media could affect this subject so much! I read a post on a blog that is similar to yours that talks about how social media affects Fantasy Football. A quote from the post is "With so many athletes out there willing to turn to social media to immediately let you know about their injuries, contract disputes and political leanings fans are closer than ever to their favorite players". This is really such an interesting topic and one that really needs further investigating.
ReplyDeleteBlog:
http://www.turbosocialmedia.com/fantasy-football-players-love-social-media/
I am a huge football fan and reading your blog was a lot of fun! Even though I do not participate in Fantasy Football, I still follow up with my favorite teams and players to see how they are playing. If it wasn’t for Twitter, following stats and injuries of the athletes would be a lot harder! It’s really cool to see how the NFL has branched out onto Twitter to help fantasy football participants stay updated with the latest news to help out with their team. Also, you are 100% correct when you stated that Twitter has a very big influence on us and when it comes to sports, it has an even greater influence. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and you seem like you know so much about football, it’s awesome!
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