By Social media has played a vital role in sports today. From the advancement of technology that advances the game, to different apps who showcase city teams behind the scenes; social media has changed the landscape of sports. In today’s game, we the audience can share our opinions more vividly than ever with providing a clear and concise rhetoric to whatever sports we’re interested. Social media also allows a more in depth understanding the lives of athletes. However, with the good must come the bad as athletes are encouraged to keep certain things off of social media to protect their image.
Negative Effects of Social Media
Players are prompted to keep their personal lives off of social media because they are representing themselves and the brand. That brand is very important to keeping the money flow going in that organization whether it’s college or professionally. There have been many instances where top college players or prospects ruin their chances at going professional in their sport. Even family members and significant others are encouraged to carry themselves accordingly. One post of anything detrimental can change your life forever.
Deondre Francois was a former Florida State Quarterback who was at the time a starter for the organization. He was just coming off of his junior year where a video of Francois and his girlfriend having an altercation surfaced. Later, his girlfriend later wrote “I normally don’t put my business on ig, but I am tired of my name being drug through the mud since the beginning, I have been silent. For 2 years I have been in a domestic situation with (Deondre Francois).” When hearing the word domestic situation, many people can run with that term and come up with ideas as to what is going on when in reality, we have no idea.
Due to the situation, Francois was dismissed from the team. She later recanted on that statement and issued an apology to Francois and his family. Apology or not, this placed a spotlight on the organization in a bad way. Francois later transferred to Hampton to finish his college career. He is now playing professionally in The Spring League for The Blues in hopes of a comeback.
The Positives
Despite the negative connotations of social media, there are positive outlooks on it as well. For instance, some NBA social media accounts use a poll filter to engage with fans. Others use the questions filter on Instagram to allow fans to ask them questions. Just this passed Friday, the NFL went live on Instagram with Chicago quarterback Justin Fields just to ask him questions about his rookie year and if he’s enjoying the weekend.
Athletes also take initiative to converse with their fans as well. Many athletes adopt a certain love for streaming video games which allows the audience to comment with the players. Twitter is also a good form of social media that allows the athletes to talk to players as well through tweets and retweets. The most notable form of interaction is through TikTok which athletes may duet a video with fans or even stitch their videos.
Social Media Impact
Social media has impacted sports to the point of no return. There are so many aspects that we the audience now know because of social media. If there’s rumor of a NBA player who wants to be traded, we don’t have to wait until 6pm news, we can simply go online and see it for ourselves. It’s also difficult to keep your life on private when you have the spotlight on yourself. Look at LeBron James. His career started in the beginning of the social media spike. Facebook was just starting, Myspace was still a thing back then, Twitter came around in 2008, and Instagram followed in 2011. Even news outlets started using social media to grab the attentions of the younger audience because it is fresh.
Social media allows the audience to be more involved with what’s happening in sports. Despite our involvement, this only makes it more important for athletes to be cautious as to what they post.
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