Social Media in Sports

Social Media in Sports

Social media in sports is the use of "interactive platforms via which individuals and communities create and share user-generated content” in athletics (4). Social media has allowed for much more direct contact between athletes, teams and fans. According to ESPN's Colin Cowherd, fifty-five percent of Twitter users use the social media platform to read and write about sports. There are numerous different sites on which people can share information from user-to-user, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Flickr among many others.

Part of the reason for the increased use of social media is the constant activity. According to Facebook, there are over 1 billion active users (at least once a month) on their site, and that number continues to grow (5). Twitter is available in more than 20 different languages (6).

The Facebook page for the University of Michigan's football team has almost one million fans and the team's Twitter page has well over 100,000 followers. In just a matter of weeks, Great Britain long jumper Greg Rutherford went from around 5,000 followers on Twitter to well over 100,000 (8). Portugal soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo currently has the most Twitter followers of any athlete, having accumulated well over 13 million. According to one survey, over half of current college football coaches are on Twitter (7).

College Sports

Social media has become a huge part of college sports recruiting. This has become a very controversial area. This is because there are many NCAA rules and regulations regarding limits on contact with recruits. Compliance has always been an issue for major NCAA programs, mainly because of the lack of awareness.

As a result of recent developments, many colleges, such as Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas and Boise State, have outlawed the use of social media on the sidelines by their players. Many schools have divisions of their athletic departments, often labeled 'Public and Media Relations,' that are tasked with monitoring the use of social media by the school's athletes.

Michigan wide receiver Roy Roundtree was reported for a minor violation because he tweeted at an ex-high school teammate, congratulating him on his commitment to Michigan.

Nowadays nearly all teams have their own hashtags. These hashtags, which are "short messages on microblogging social networking services" are oftentimes advertised around stadiums, on the field or on television (9).

Communication

Social media offers a medium for the world's most popular athletes and teams to communicate with fans. Many athletes have taken to the Internet to announce big decisions, or teams take the opportunity to publicize new acquisitions or post lineups. Many teams even have play-by-play accounts set up, meaning that a fan can now follow the game solely by reading text, or even picture updates online. Many also hold various contests or polls through automated programs.

Former Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand, who was paralyzed from the neck down in an on-the-field accident, uses his Twitter account to update fans on his progress as he attempts to re-learn how to walk.

Many high school athletes take to social media to promote their highlight tape or to contact recruiters in order to gauge possible interest.

Ethical Implications

Controversy

Many athletes have gotten fined and even suspended for messages relayed via social media. Some of the most notable instances have revolved around international soccer players such as English internationals Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole and Jack Wilshere. Ferdinand became the first to be fined for a retweet, which is the re-posting of another user's tweet on Twitter (1). Following the killing of Osama bin Laden, Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall infamously tweeted, "For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn in hell and piss on his ashes, I ask how would God feel about your heart?" (3)

Twitter and the Olympics

Before the start of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, triple-jumper Voula Papahristou was suspended from Greece's Olympic Team for a racist message that she posted on her Twitter page. Papahristou tweeted, "With so many Africans in Greece, at least the mosquitoes of West Nile will eat homemade food" (New York Times). The tweet was in reference to African immigrants living in Greece. According to the New York Times, the message was "retweeted over 100 times," and "immediately [drew] angry reactions" from followers who witnessed Papahristou's Twitter page.

Impersonation

Many social media accounts attempt to impersonate athletes. Different platforms have different ways of verifying athletes once they achieve a certain level of popularity. This is in order to prevent fake accounts from surfacing. There have also been many issues with athletes' accounts being hacked.

Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson's Twitter account was recently compromised. Following the incident, Robinson deleted his account (before eventually re-instating it). Many other athletes must deal with the constant pestering of fans and must be careful not to allow others access to their account information.

References

(1) http://www.rantsports.com/clubhouse/2012/08/17/manchester-united-defender-rio-ferdinand-fined-for-retweeting-racial-comment-about-ashley-cole/ (2) https://twitter.com/ESPN_Colin/status/105686515828535296 (3) https://twitter.com/R_Mendenhall/status/65180868850884608 (4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media (5) http://newsroom.fb.com/News/One-Billion-People-on-Facebook-1c9.aspx (6) https://twitter.com/about (7) http://coachingsearch.com/home/461-chart-50-of-head-coaches-are-utilizing-twitter.html (8) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1365810-social-media-in-sport-fantastic-future-or-tweeting-twits (9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashtag (10)