Social media is a funny place. At it's best it's witty, informative and entertaining. At it's worst it's like a car accident where no one gets seriously hurt but everyone else stands around and watches the aftermath.
As the Jets vs Devils game was postponed due to the snow storm on the east coast the social media team of the Winnipeg Jets did what should have been a fun Q&A with Nic Petan on Twitter. They used the hashtag #askajet.
The results were probably not what the team had desired but being on social media they certainly should have been aware of what could have gone wrong. Here's a lesson on social media, listen to some opposing view points. Make sure you have a total picture of what's going on before you venture out and open up to the crowd.
The responses and questions were hilarious yet for many they were troubling. In all honesty I don't think the bar would get lowered so well but it did, and frankly there's nothing wrong with that. Reality can be a hard place to be, and certainly the Jets social media team is well aware of that place now.
Do you have questions for @petan19? Submit them using #AskaJet, and they could be used in the next episode presented by @Fastsignswpg! pic.twitter.com/QnetvVVgS5
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 14, 2017
Here are some of the responses, or rather questions back to Nic Petan.
@NHLJets @petan19 @Fastsignswpg As you struggle to earn Thorburn's spot what part's of his game are you trying to add to your own? #AskAJet
— Mikey McMikeface (@mike_yung) March 14, 2017
@NHLJets @petan19 @Fastsignswpg Do you feel the team plays with more poise when Pav starts? #AskAJet
— Daniel Bridgeford 📎 (@DanielWpg55) March 14, 2017
@NHLJets @petan19 @Fastsignswpg who do you think will develop first, you or Chris Thorburn? #askajet #freepetan
— MACK (@cmackLIVE) March 14, 2017
@NHLJets @petan19 @Fastsignswpg does Maurice really not know what he's doing, or does it just appear that way? #freepetan
— fuelledbyexcuses-Ren (@originalsteel) March 14, 2017
@NHLJets @petan19 @Fastsignswpg Is the popcorn in the pressbox better than the stuff the fans get? #AskaJet #FreePetan
— Cassie (@abstracthalo) March 14, 2017
@NHLJets @petan19 hey Nik! If you get a curly wig and a big nose and fight for no reason do you think you can get a sniff of the ice thurs?
— Jason Clark (@jasonclark2) March 14, 2017
@NHLJets @petan19 @Fastsignswpg is TN that out of touch with their fan base that they thought this would go well?
— sb (@DonBaete) March 14, 2017
We should never do #AskaJet after a season we've had. Should be #askthemanagement, that's more like it, and fair
— MaMa D (@Cathyldemelo) March 15, 2017
Maurice reaction when fans ask does @petan19 deserve better than getting press boxed.
— Ted Wyman (@Ted__Wyman) March 14, 2017
#AskAJet #NHLJets pic.twitter.com/osMl41PZIZ
Meanwhile in Winnipeg, sports team does dumb social media idea & fans lower the bar further than anyone could have predicted #askajet
— Peter Tessier (@Teddier) March 14, 2017
The problem is not the questions to Petan, they asked him something about the team based on a request by the team. The problem is that the social media team was so completely unaware of the temperature within the Jets social media sphere. Just utterly lost.
When fake Ted Wyman gets involved you know things are going, wrong. Horribly wrong.
To be fair there were many tweets apologizing for the questions or admonishing fans for asking them. But is that even appropriate or an accurate response. The questions were not hurtful or mean to Petan, in fact the hashtag #freePetan can be seen in many tweets. Some questions did put him in a bit of a compromising position in regards to questioning the coach or the value of a team mate. While humorous in nature, they were never going to be answered and the writers knew that too.
What the whole session did was simply add a match to the fumes of the gasoline leaking around this team and it's fans. They have had enough of the same. They have seen enough to know that the status quo, the logic, the tactics and strategy of grown stale if not contradictory of what management has sold them in the past. Draft, develop. Draft, develop. Draft develop.
The fans did not set those expectations. They were sold to them, and had the social media team for the Jets been aware of what is going on with Jets social media they could have seen this coming.
In fact isn't that a similarity with the reality of the team itself?
Who could have seen the state of the franchise right now with all the moves, or lack thereof, addressing the known and consistent problems areas that have existed for seasons? It goes further too, are the coaches and management as unaware of the problems as the social media team is of the fan frustration?
It's funny how things can mimic each other or perhaps are even correlated without anyone seeing it, and yesterday no one but the responders saw what was going to happen. Blind faith and Kool Aid are a dangerous cocktail.