This is a new feature that will hopefully happen every Sunday, @SPHLRando will offer up his opinions on whatever is on his mind in the world of hockey, and based on his Twitter name, you can probably assume that it will usually be about something in the SPHL. Enjoy!

Social media is the new newspaper, hate it or love it. Just this year, there are expected to be 2.77 BILLION social media users (Facebook, Twitter, instagram, etc). That’s a lot of people looking at the equivalent of a newspaper.

One of my big time criticisms of the SPHL was the fact that they didn’t seem to take social media seriously in the Jim Combs era, which I think hurt them, sadly.

You could say, “Well, the teams are the ones that should market themselves”, and to that I say yes, but to a certain limit. People have to know that there is a league also. Ever notice close to the end of the seasons for NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, etc, people talk about points games, or the marquee matchups, a lot, the ones that could help or hurt a team trying to get to the playoffs, and guess where they talk about them. Social Media.

The SPHL also happens to have those types of games also, but nobody talks about it. Why? That could be a selling point for SPHL Live, a service that seems to be rarely advertised. Just make a post on Twitter/Facebook and say “Hey fans of ___, there’s a points game/huge game with playoff implications that could help you tonight if ___ loses, why not watch it on SPHL Live!”

Another thing I would do with the newfound social media presence the SPHL has is try to fight the stigma of the SPHL being a fighting league for “non-traditional fans” who only turn out with hopes of seeing a fight or line brawl. Post highlights, because man, some the SPHL is very underrated, and the quality of play has definitely improved over the last few years, and if you let people see that, you might garner some new fans.

One thing I am glad about is that since the arrival of Cara Godlesky as director of communications for the league, I have seen improvement on the Twitter side of the SPHL social media. The god awful profile picture has been fixed, game scores are now being posted, and phone wallpapers (I love me a good wallpaper) have been posted. There has also been more social interaction, something that was off about the account before the switch.

If the league continues to go the way they are going, the social media side of the SPHL has a very positive future, and can help grow the league’s fanbase and visibility going forward.

By the way if any SPHL employees who access the account see this, please follow me.