Toronto Maple Leafs: Unfollowed
By Omar L
The Toronto Maple Leafs have upset Leafs nation by unfollowing all Twitter accounts, except for team president Brendan Shanahan.
Friday April 28 was a sad day in Leafs nation, particularly for those who are on Twitter. Follower counts decreased by at least one for the accounts of Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans all over the social network.
Accounts saw 67 followers fall to 49, 982 to 983 and even the super frustrating 3,000 to 2,999. Why? Because the Toronto Maple Leafs’ twitter account decided to clean house.
The account was following nearly 1.5 million people. As it stands now, only a single account is followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Fans were unfollowed. Insiders were unfollowed. Even players associated with the organization were unfollowed.
No love for leading scorer Auston Matthews or William Nylander anymore. Mitch Marner’s participation in the IIHF World Hockey Championships was made official, and he gets an unfollow as a prize.
No stone was left untouched, no account was left unfollowed. What makes it worse is that many other people who were not followed by the team before, will never know what it feels like.
Leafs fans who noticed they were no longer being followed by the team, took to Twitter to voice their displeasure:
It's truly a sad day when the @MapleLeafs stop following you after over 8 years #tmltalk #unhappy #fan
— Neil Anthony (@NeilAnthonyLive) April 28, 2017
@MapleLeafs Brendan at Maple Leafs I may have been one of the 1.5 that u followed and I followed but I'll get my team news elsewhere. #Leafs
— Derek (@MLGarden67) April 29, 2017
Dear @MapleLeafs,
— Mike Westlake (@mikewestlakee) April 28, 2017
You've angered the citizens of Fort Toronto with social media betrayal. I suggest acquiring PTE Trouba to make peace
A.M
Leafs nation just wants to know why? Why unfollow Leafs nation?
What kind of NHL team thinks it’s fair not to follow their fans? Other teams must do it, too.
The @MapleLeafs explained this was done to better communication with the fans. A new Maple Leafs Twitter account was made @TMLTalk_Leafs.
It seems like that this account will be used for the fans and the original account will be used for official announcements about the team. However, it’ll be hard for a new follow by anything not named @MapleLeafs to mend the feelings of the fans.
Next: Is Mitch Marner Right to go to the Worlds?
Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan remains the only survivor of Blue Friday/Unfollow Friday/#UnfollowGate. Maybe the Shanaplan runs deeper than Leafs fans thought.