Wyatt Hamilton's Blog

Recently I was encountered a blog about Social Media on Graeme Law’s page. He points out that the value of Social Media may be over exaggerated and the sum of its abilities may be far fetched. This made me think about the importance of Social Media and the affect it has on professional sport. More specifically Twitter.

Cue:

Paul Bissonnette AKA: Biznasty2point0

He is the living, breathing proof of the power of Twitter.

For years professional hockey players have been stereotyped by the media as having no personality and only giving cookie cutting answers. But then again the press probably wouldn’t be jumping over tables to interview a 4th line forward for the Phoenix Coyotes who averages 5 minutes of ice per game.

Biznasty allows a new generation of fans to see what professional players are really like behind the scenes via 140 characters at a time. He doesn’t give scripted cliché comments about the previous nights game to be broadcasted all over North American TV’s every morning. He tweets about anything and everything from celebs, other sports, girls, nights out, favourite songs  and even his clothing line he developed. Yes NHL players are highly skilled athletes, playing on an enormous stage every other night, but they are also 20 to 30 year old males who like to relax and enjoy each other’s company. They do have lives and personalities away from the rink and Twitter allows people to see that.

Recently The Hockey News released their Top 100 People of Power and Influence list. Out of 700 players in the NHL only 17 made this list. Paul Bissonnette was one of those players. At 2200 thoughts of wisdom and 50,000 followers growing exponentially Biznasty2point0 is changing how fans observe the players and the NHL as a whole.