This article comes from friend of UTHDynasty.com and contributing writer, Katie Flower. Follow her @FF_Skyler399 on twitter.
I admit that I am a child of the 60’s who grew up in the 70’s and I have witnessed the emergence of technology and innovation my entire life. Tools and ideas that are smaller, faster, cheaper, and better have transformed the way that we do business and how we interact with others. Social media is here to stay and rather than try to block it out, perhaps I can show you a few ways that it can help improve your dynasty team.
Fantasy football is as much about varying points of view and opinions as it is facts and stats. The more that you can stay tuned in to what other dynasty owners are thinking about players, coaches, teams, and trade values, the better equipped you are to make the right kind of moves for your team. One great place to go is the forum of any dynasty site and read through the threads, they are chock full of real owners just like you. But this can take a lot of time, how can you get the same amount of information in a smaller, faster, better format?
Before I started writing for UTH I hardly used my twitter account, it was mostly for work. It didn’t take long to realize that I could use Twitter to stay in touch with others in the fantasy community. By having an account strictly devoted to football news and notes, sports writers, draft scouts, experts in the dynasty community, owners and fanatics of dynasty fantasy football, I created my own forum on the go. Think about how powerful that is!
I now get news of player trades, releases, and injury updates on my feed faster than ever. If a league is looking for an opening, I tweet a friend so that they can join. When dynasty trades happen, I look for @dynastytrades and #UTHtrades and get to see what real trades have transpired, it helps me stay current on player value. Not only that, I can see the comments of others and which side of the trade they prefer and why.
You can use twitter to communicate with league mates as well, some people find it easier to send private messages via twitter and not email or text. I enjoy texting league mates and talking trades, football, and just stuff in general to get to know them better. This one guy and I had over 150 texts in a month. It was when I got my cell phone bill that I realized that he lived in Canada and that it was considered an international text. $70 worth of international texts in fact, ouch! Using private messaging on twitter is free.
Chad and Doug are very accessible on twitter and can answer your dynasty questions very quickly for you. The drawback to this format is it’s brevity, so be sure to include all the valuable information about a trade so that they can make a good judgement. For example: J Matthews for M Bennett which side? The answer will change dramatically if you add: 12 team TE premium
Another social media venue that can help you in dynasty is Facebook. Some people just don’t check their email that much. Facebook has an instant messenger that works well in staying in touch with league mates, and unlike texting, it doesn’t cost anything. Not all league mates will want to share as much personal information with you as Facebook shares, but for those that don’t mind, it is another great way to get to know someone and keep the lines of communication open.
One of my league mates in an ESPN league was so hard to reach using the email feature on the site. He wouldn’t respond to trade requests or emails. Finally he replied to an email and said “Can you add me on Facebook, I don’t check email much”. After adding him and chatting I found out that we have a lot in common. He and I both love the Razorbacks and love to garden. While we still haven’t worked out a trade yet, I have a new friend and the lines of communication are much better.
If you haven’t already done so, please follow me on twitter @FF_Skyler399, I would love to have you as part of my network. Embrace social media and let it help you improve your dynasty team!
