While NFL teams are "employing people to find creative ways to inform and connect with their fan bases on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter," the mood when teams struggle "turns angry, and disgruntled fans respond by using those same social media tools to vent," according to Ben Shpigel of the N.Y. TIMES. Posts or messages from teams that are "intended to soothe their supporters instead become invitations for mocking." While this "phenomenon plays out daily," nowhere does it "seem more pronounced than in the NFL." Browns VP/Fan Experience & Marketing Kevin Griffin: "People can see right through you. There’s a level of credibility that you have to maintain." The Jets "rank among the NFL leaders in social media engagement." On those platforms, they "have absorbed criticism for what could be perceived as a lack of awareness, for Twitter posts like one from Oct. 30, four days after they committed six turnovers and benched their quarterback" in a loss to the Bills. They "teased an interview" with former QB Chad Pennington "by asking, 'Has the #Jets offense found a potential spark?'" It "was all the more surprising, then, when their Twitter account last week referred to a plane that had flown over team headquarters trailing a banner calling for the dismissal" of GM John Idzik. The post "linked to video clips of selected players’ reactions to the 'practice flyover & more.'" Griffin: "It’s not to judge the Jets, but I know we wouldn’t have done that. In our case, for our brand, that’s not a unifier. That’s value-destructive for us." Bills CMO Marc Honan said that the organization "holds daily meetings to determine the approach that day on social media, and its plan reflects the team’s performance." On Mondays and Tuesdays after losses, the Bills' engagement "is more modest" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/16).
PROTECTING THE BRANDON: Bears WR Brandon Marshall said that he is "serious about setting up a boxing match with a Lions fan he engaged on Twitter, denying the episode would be a distraction to a team that is trying to get back on its feet." Marshall on Friday said, "Why not? It’s an opportunity. See, what you guys don’t understand is when you guys see challenges, I see opportunities. When you read my social network, it says, thought-provoker. That’s what it is. What’s the big deal? Why do you all care?" He insisted that there "was a method to his madness, that this is part of a grand plan to combat bullying -- yet another social ill he wants to address" (
SUNTIMES.com, 11/14).
