How the anti-social media granddad of the Cavaliers became the sport world's best Snapchatter - For The Win
A year before Cavaliers veteran Richard Jefferson became the best Snapchatter in professional sports, there was only one way to describe his feelings towards social media: Completely against it.
But the 36-year-old began Snapchatting during the Cavaliers’ playoff run last year, and now he said he typically gets more than 100,000 views on his Snaps (username: rjeff24).
That’s around the same number that Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (ab84official) gets (he frequently shares his Snap views). But the difference between the two is that Brown has 1.5 million followers on Instagram and 780,000 followers on Twitter, while Jefferson isn’t active on any other social media platform.
Basically, one of the oldest guys on the champion Cavs roster is hanging in there with the youths. Here’s more proof: In addition to being named For The Win’s 2016 Snapchatter of the Year, Jefferson is the oldest nominee in the sports category of the Shorty Awards, which honor “the most notable and viral influencers” (voting is open through Feb. 16).
Jefferson calls the nomination “mind blowing.”
“I was the last person on social media, I was always anti-social media, and then to start getting nominated for an award for social media literally in my first year on it, it’s just comical,” he said.
It’s not surprising that Snapchat wound up being the platform that Jefferson mastered. While it can be tough to figure out how to use, once you get the hang of it, it only takes 10 seconds max to post content — no real planning required. But it’s amazing how quickly he rose to social media stardom.
Jefferson spoke to For The Win on the phone in the wake of his Shorty Awards nomination.
“I viewed (social media) as nothing positive could really ever come from it,… ” he explained. “Michael Jordan became the greatest athlete and the biggest athlete endorser without any social media, so from that standpoint, I was always just kind of like hey, I just want to play basketball and use the normal outlet for media.”
That all changed thanks to the social media gods working in Jefferson’s favor.
As Jefferson said in his Players’ Tribune piece in June, social media savvy teammates Kyrie Irving and Jordan McRae (members of the Snap group Bestiny’s Child), happily helped him figure out how to use Snapchat after he saw them using it at a practice one day.
From there, Jefferson, who described himself as “always been viewed as a very straight-laced, serious guy, an older player, kind of like the granddad of the team,” began to use Snapchat to crack jokes and show his personality, as well as document the happenings of the Cavaliers as they began their postseason journey to win the 2016 NBA championship.
Jefferson quickly began to realize how much fans enjoy the insider look that Snapchat uniquely provides, and how the content could drive the narrative surrounding the team. Last season, many questioned the team chemistry of the Cavs. Jefferson said that bothered him. However, he saw things change once he started sharing behind-the-scenes moments — Lil Kev, the unofficial team mascot that was a Tommy Bahama ad featuring a model that resembled Kevin Love, and all.
“It seems there was response from fans like, ‘Wow, you guys do really get along,’ or, ‘Wow, yeah, it’s awesome to see how much you guys hang out,’ and once you start to see that it’s like well, if you guys are seeing that just off the bus ride, why not show us hanging out at Kevin’s house or show us hanging out or working out before practice or after practice?” Jefferson said. “I decided to start showing people as much as I could while still being respectful to my teammates.”
But, as Jefferson notes, “without my teammates kind of giving me approval, without my teammates joking with the camera, without them opening up and trusting me, none of this happens.”
So there you have it: A social media platform perfect for the anti-social media granddad of the Cavs, cooperative teammates with fun personalities and a historic championship run came together, and it resulted in Jefferson becoming the god of sports Snapchat.
“The fans just enjoy it so much, and it’s not gonna take much time out of my day to post something goofy about Channing (Frye) or to joke with LeBron about something while we’re at a team dinner,” Jefferson said. “If the fans are enjoying it and the fans want more of that interaction — and the Ohio fans are the best, the Cleveland fans are the best — so to give them that, it makes it fun and they enjoy it.”
Jefferson hasn’t shared the news of his Shorty Awards nomination with his teammates just yet, though.
Winning basketball games comes first for him and the team, and he said that because they’re going through a rough patch, losing six of their last eight games, he knows it’s not the right time to bring up his Snapchat success (his account has been on the quieter side too).
But he added that he has faith they’ll turn it around and get into a rhythm, and when they do, he’ll let them know his social media fame has been recognized as they make a run at a second title.
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