Toronto Maple Leafs: April Reimer Starts Anti Cyber-Bullying Campaign

Toronto Maple Leafs: April Reimer Starts Anti-Cyber Bullying Campaign

After being a victim of social media harassment April Reimer -wife of Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer – has decided to join an anti cyber-bullying campaign that encourages people to be more positive while using social media. Reimer was the victim of harsh criticism from fans, who were angry about her husband’s play both last season and this year. The goaltender does not have a Twitter account, so that led to people going after his wife for reasons I cannot understand to this day.

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April has sweetened the pot for this campaign by offering to reward fans with tickets to Leafs games for those who use the hashtag #tweetsweet.

On the campaign website it explains how the ticket will be given away:

Nov 11, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The NBA Canada Twitter logo is displayed on a signboard and reflected in the floor before the Toronto Raptors game against the Orlando Magic at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Magic 104-100. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

“By adding this hashtag to a positive tweet, picture, comment etc. said to someone else or about someone else on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook it will send out positive content out into the online community. This hashtag will help follow this movement and at random one lucky user will be rewarded with a pair of Leafs tickets to a home game at the Air Canada Centre. The tickets will be given out twice a month for the remainder of the 2014-2015 season. So #tweetsweet might get you sweet seats!”

The campaign has gained a lot of attention across the board, with many people and media organizations giving their support to this cause.

Why is this important? Twitter is a great source for news and a great way for fans to interact with their favourite team. Leafs fans are very active on twitter, but when the team is struggling – which has been the case recently – Twitter can be a war zone, with fans taking their anger out on each other, players, reporters and in Reimer’s case, his wife.

The worst part is that people think they can just hide behind a computer screen and be “trolls” on the internet, because they enjoy the reaction they get from people who take it personally. When I read most of the tweets during a game, I am astonished to see the lengths people will go to say something unintelligent on social media. Sure people get angry and want to vent their frustrations. The public may not like the way a player or a team performs, but as April Reimer said in an interview with CP24: “Athletes are human beings, they have families and it is not right to attack them personally just because of how they perform.”

It got so bad for Reimer, that people were able to get a hold of her personal phone number and started leaving messages and phone calls, which led to the police getting involved. While this campaign will not get rid of negativity on social media, it will try to take away its impact by having more positive messages spread out. The best way this program will continue to encourage this message is by offering free Leafs tickets, which for Leafs fans is like winning the jackpot in the lottery.

From all of us at Tip of the Tower, we wish April Reimer the best of luck with this campaign and we hope that all Toronto sports fans will continue to use #tweetsweet to spread more positivity across all social media platforms.