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It's A Strange World on Twitter & Jets Updates

July 10, 2012, 1:53 AM ET [7 Comments]
Peter Tessier
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The hockey Twittersphere is a strange space. Some folks can follow almost everyone and keep a watchful eye on various events and significant news while others (like me) stick to a modest amount of follows and focus on one or two key subjects.

Readers on this site will know the bloggers and writers who go further than their chosen team and make judgements and thoughts based on what they the reader want to read. In some ways HockeyBuzz is much like a microcosm of the online and offline hockey media world. Some of us here at HB are 'all-in' while others participate rather peripherally yet just as actively if not intelligently.

However, what is happening in the Hockey Twittersphere is getting downright goofy lately and it hit an all time high today in this writer's humble opinion.

Some say imitation is the best form of flattery and I guess Eklund should be flattered as there are no more than three other 'anonymous' hockey bloggers who claim, with some seriousness, an insider status and view of that world.

If you come to HockeyBuzz and read the work you have already taken a leap of faith as I see it. You know what you are getting and you know the reason we as writers and you as readers exist and this community. Whether you believe in Eklund, his credibility or even his track record is irrelevant if you come here regularly, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that you, dear reader, have made the leap of faith to accept opinion, analysis, speculation and yes- RUMOURS as part of what you want to feed your interest in the NHL.

It's for that very reason that we see folks like "The_Creasy", "NHLsourcessay" and the latest incarnation of anonymous insiders "Hockeyy Insiderr" all take a stab at become the latest flavour of the day.

I have never tracked Eklund's or any other person's success rate at hockey prognostication- it matters not to me. I do like the rampant speculation and rumours though as it gives what so many of us truly enjoy, a chance to feel like we are part of the action. I think it's what sets hockey apart from any other major league sport- the fans have always felt closer to the game and the players than with the other three sports.

Before there was rotisserie league baseball there were hockey pools (at least according to my memory). Fantasy anything was easily far after the days choosing with your first pick either Gretzky's goals or assists. It's a different kind of world now but hockey always seemed to be a bit closer to the fan than any of basketball, baseball or football.

For the above reason it's why I think hockey fans are different in their level of interest in the sport and it's activities away from the actual games. It's this interest that feeds people to sites like HockeyBuzz and subsequently the Twitter feeds of many of the writers, here and everywhere.

So what of the activities of the Twittersphere as of late? Well it's goofy and it's goofy for all the wrong reasons. The reason this whole piece is being written is because of what happened to Hockeyy Insiderr today. He got set up and he got burned, not by some random guy from HFBoards or any other fan site, but by credible yet somewhat anonymous people who were followed by certain media.

To make matters worse, once the hoax was out the person behind the Hockeyy Insiderr Twitter account could not let go and posted what has to be one of the most ridiculous tweets ever seen- a mock up of a screenshot of TSN's Darren Dreger allegedly holding a cut out picture of his Twitter avatar. Was he ridiculed? Probably but I couldn't stay to find out nor did I want to, the absurdity of it all was too much. The National Post's Bruce Arthur had already said as much as was needed.

The part I struggle with in all of this is what is there to gain? What does a person who is anonymous gain by begging for followers, having certain TV media 'acknowledge' him? What do any of them gain? It's been done and frankly it's really no longer a secret nor is it that important, if important at all.

The biggest issue here is that once again it seems certain segments/personalities have taken on a new level of 'warfare' between online and traditional media. While it provides some sort of sensationalistic voyeurism it serves no real purpose in furthering anyone's agenda. I've had a couple of 'twissing' matches and they are about as constructive as making paper airplanes with wet newsprint.

Information and content are commodities and have been for some time and right now. What constitutes as value becomes determined by those who digest said information and content. It's an evolving game and right now the media networks are fighting back in different ways.

Take the very popular 30 Thoughts by Elliotte Friedman. It's basically 30 pieces of gossip, fact, speculation, and in some cases innuendo written in easily digestible forms by a media professional who has built up his credibility through years of work. You either trust when Friedman says "a western conference GM recently told me...." is fact and true or you don't. But if he won't name names why is it anymore believable or truthful? The column gets a TON of hits and lots of recognition by his peers but how is anyone to know it's accurate?

I'm not saying Freidman is lying, embellishing or even fabricating but if his peers are not going to put his claims to the same acid test as they do to any of the other anonymous 'supposed' insider's work where is the line of trust?

Where I began and where I have ended seemed to go way beyond Twitter but that's where so much of this 'stuff' happens, and it happens quick. Blink and it's three refreshes in your time line.

I think the perspective around rumours and deals and the whole 'first' thing needs to be found and quickly. One thing I find very telling between traditional media and new media is that when any party wants to share something of interest and value in terms of work it's NEVER about some one else being first. It always about quality and no matter how hard we try the cream rises to the top and for all forms of media there's way more cream than there ever used to be. In my view we might as well enjoy it while the good time last.

As for Jets updates...

That will come later on Tuesday.
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