Friday, July 29, 2011

The Social Avalanche

If anyone's seen The Social Network, I do not need to give a history lesson on social media.  Let's just say that in the mid 2000s, like many 20-something Americans, I became obsesssed with Myspace and then Facebook.  While Myspace has certainly seen better days, Facebook is still thriving and so is Twitter.  In fact, I have found out news such as the Johnson trade, the Varlamov trade, and Landeskog's and Siemens'  signings via Twitter.  Several Avalanche players have Facebook accounts and some of them will even accept Friend Requests from people like you and me!  TJ Galiardi, Brandon Yip, Kyle Cumiskey, and former Av Peter Budaj come to mind.  However, where Avalanche players and celebrities in general are really accessible is Twitter. 

Late last year, the young face of the franchise, Matt Duchene decided to open a Twitter account so that his fans could be more accessible to him.  He said that growing up, he would have loved to be able to follow guys like Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg on a medium like Twitter.  With his 45,000+ followers today and his 379 tweets, Duchene is no doubt one of the most popular players on the team. 

Over the past couple of months, several other Avalanche players have opened Twitter accounts.  Daniel Winnik, Ryan O'Byrne, Jonas Holos (although most of his Tweets are in Norwegian), Greg Mauldin (who gave me a shoutout on my birthday!), David Jones, and the newly acquired Shane O'Brien and Joakim Lindstrom.  Several former Avs are also on like John-Michael Liles (from whom I also got a Retweet), Chris Stewart, and Kevin Shattenkirk.  Also, many Avs prospects like 1st rounder Joey Hishon, possible goalie of the future Calvin Pickard, and Stefan Elliott.  Makes sense that a lot of these guys are much more active Tweeters in the summer with it being the offseason and all.

For my complete list of Avalanche players and personnel on Twitter, check out http://twitter.com/#!/avrilanche/avalanche

David Jones joined as recently as yesterday and one of my new favorite tweeters has been TJ Galiardi.  Gali's always had a reputation as a joker and a funny guy in the locker room, but also as a guy who can get under opponents' skin.  Like Dan Hinote with scoring ability!  If Gali can stay healthy, regain his scoring touch and his grit, could we be seeing the next Corey Perry?  Ok, that might be a reach since Perry just came off a 50-goal season and was the league's MVP, but I don't think 20 goals, 50 points and a spot on a top line is out of the question for Gali.  He will have some competition at Left Wing in David Jones and Gabriel Landeskog though.  Anyway, here are two of Gali's tweets that literally made me laugh out loud:

TJ Galiardi
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TJ Galiardi

2 comments:

  1. The social media age has brought a lot of benefits to us fans, but has also got some celebrities and sports figures in trouble. Is it good for the game? I think it is. It also fans to become more in touch with the players, and also see them as humans, just like the rest of us...well most of us. BUT they have to realize that they are still in the spotlight and be very cautious about the content the post. I'm all for freedom of speech and will defend anyone's right to say whatever they want. However being celebrities that they are they must take into account that the media can and will use tweets or facebook posts to portray you the celebrity in a light that is mainly beneficial to them. But it is a lot of fun for the fans, so tweet away guys.

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  2. I absolutely think it's a good thing! Athletes, actors, and singers will continue to say stupid things with or without Twitter. Sure, they have every right to say what they want, but being in the spotlight comes with a price, so if a guy wants to tweet about someone being a racial or homophobic slur, he's going to have to face the consequences. It's the whole, with great power comes great responsibility thing. No one's forcing these guys to be on Twitter and make poor choices with said medium, but I think by enlarge most celebrities use it responsibly to get themselves closer to their fans.

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