We live in a society where information is made public immediately. Whether it's hard news or what an athlete ate for dinner, we can most likely find out the answer in a very short period of time.
Since the creation of Twitter, sports teams have taken full advantage of each 140 character message to send news quickly to fans. But now, a majority of the impact social media has between organizations and their fans comes greatly from the players themselves.
Andrew Shaw, Brandon Bollig, Jimmy Hayes and Bryan Bickell are the Blackhawks' social media gurus and participated in a question panel about Twitter at this weekend's Blackhawks Convention. From interacting with fans to just having a great time, each has created a newer, stronger presence as a member of the team because of the online relationships they've created with their followers.
"It's great to show fans what we do on a regular basis," Bryan Bickell said. "I like having that chance to interact with them, plus I think my fishing pictures go over pretty well."
But whether the players are specifically interacting with fans or just joking with one another, their thousands of followers read their posts and feel more of a personal bond with each of them.
"I've just been really funny on it," Jimmy Hayes says with a laugh. "I use it to post jokes and just have a good time."
Hayes' account is dedicated to making readers laugh, and as one of the newest players on the team, he's proven social media is an effective way of attracting fans by showing off his personality right away.
Although all four athletes receive countless tweets and messages throughout each day, they said they read through all that is sent to them and enjoy seeing what the fans have to say. Brandon Bollig admits it's "really cool seeing peoples' reactions" after making a good play on the ice or scoring a goal.
Out of the four players on the panel, Shaw has received the most hype online, but that doesn't mean he pays less attention to the overwhelming responses he gets. When asked which out of the thousands of tweets he remembers most, he immediately replied:
"Chuck Norris wears Andrew Shaw's pajamas to bed."