Social Media to Play Integral Role in NFL Free Agency

Kenneth C. Wisnefski, founder and CEO of WebiMax, a leader in social media services, discusses the vital role that social media will play in the looming NFL free agency, which is expected to open as early as this Friday. “With teams having only 72 hours to resign or release free agents, a process that usually lasts for 4 months, I expect social media to experience tremendous volume as players, agents, and fans stay near their computers and smartphones for the 72-hour rush”, discusses Wisnefski.

The end to the NFL lockout seems to be within reach after 4 months of negotiations and legal disputes comes to an end, leaving teams only 3 days to resign or release their free agents. This would then allow open-market free agency to begin on Monday, July 25, at 12:01am.

“Social Media will play an major role in this year’s free agency, as literally thousands of people including NFL players, agents, owners, and fans will be following the news over these 72 hours”, states Wisnefski, whose firm WebiMax has managed professional sports teams social media campaigns. “This is not only stemming from the importance of football to the American people, this represents the larger picture; Social Media has emerged as the new form of communication in our world”.

Currently, “NFL lockout” returns 17,800,000 search results on Google, and Twitter hashtags #NFL, #NFLPA, and #NFLlockout, each average 2 tweets per minute, respectively.

“I suspect NFL owners are actually going to find out who is going where from social media platforms, just as all of us will in the short 3 days”, exclaims Wisnefski. “Just as we witnessed from recent events including the Japanese earthquake, crisis in Egypt and Libya, and the devastating Tornado’s in Alabama, we have entered an era where when mass communication is needed, people turn to social media”, concludes Wisnefski.