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March 16th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Amid the NFL‘s free agency frenzy, NFL players have taken to social media this week to break news of their fresh contracts and switches to new teams.
Wide receiver Pierre Garcon, for instance, announced via his Facebook Page on Tuesday that he would join the Washington Redskins after four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. In an interview before the post, Garcon said social networks give athletes new power to control narratives as they move from team to team.
[More from Mashable: Former Rutgers Student Convicted Of Webcam Privacy Crime]
“Social media is taking over,” said Garcon, who has some 350,000 combined followers on Facebook and Twitter. “It’s a great opportunity for me to make the announcement and make sure the story is accurate and the facts are 100% correct by having it come from me directly.”
Garcon’s announcement appears to be the first time a relatively high-profile professional athlete has used social media to say he’s leaving his old team behind to join a new franchise. Players have previously used social media to announce contract extensions with current teams.
[More from Mashable: Major League Baseball Policy Endorses Use of Social Media]
Other NFL free agents pulled similar moves after Garcon. Cornerback Richard Marshall announced a move from the Arizona Cardinals to Miami Dolphins with a tweet on Wednesday. Tight end Martellus Bennett broke news of his move from the Dallas Cowboys to a new team by tweeting, “I’m officially a New York Giant!”, according to multiple reports. That tweet was soon deleted, but Bennett did sign with the team. A Giants spokesman told Mashable the team had no input on Bennett’s decision to delete the tweet.
Players have also used social media this week to let fans of their old teams down easy. Cornerback Cortland Finnegan used a video posted to his Facebook Page on Wednesday, cornerback Cortland Finnegan thanked Tennessee Titans fans for embracing him during his six seasons with the team. The video was posted shortly after he signed a contract with the St. Louis Rams.
“I want fans to be able to interact with me on a personal level,” Finnegan told Mashable in an interview. “Social media is just a great way for fans to be able to interact with players on a personal level and see the guy without the helmet on.”
Jeff Weiner, who advises Garcon and Finnegan on leveraging social media, thinks major announcements coming via Facebook and Twitter is a trend sports teams, fans and reporters should prepare to get used to.
“The first thing fans hear, the first impression they get about a player’s next move is going to come from what he says rather than what the media says,” Weiner told Mashable. “Reporters and mainstream media are going to have to continue to adapt to it and accept that they’re not always going to be the ones breaking news, but breaking the news the athlete already broke.”
Do you think it makes sense for pro athletes to use social media rather than traditional channels for big announcements? Let us know in the comments.
BONUS GALLERY: The Secrets to NFL Stars’ Facebook Success
Check out highlights from Mashable‘s December interview with Weiner on how NFL players can leverage Facebook.
Welcome Well
“Pretty much everyone who visits a page wants to go straight to the Wall,” Weiner says. “So you have to give them a reason on the Welcome tab — something extra, like exclusive access — that gives them an incentive to click the Like button first.”
Here, Woodley invites fans to connect by helping his Pro Bowl cause — if they click the Like button.
Click here to view this gallery.
Thumbnail image via Pierre Garcon’s Facebook Page
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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