Negative Effects Of Social Media In Sports

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In recent years, sports organizations and athletes are using social media more frequently as a tool to communicate with fans. Social media can be defined as the tools, platforms, and applications that enable consumers to connect, communicate, and collaborate with others (Williams & Chinn, 2010). Social media differs from other forms of communication such as radio, newspaper, and television because it supports user participation on a massive, collective scale. The contributions are also distributed among the participants to view, share, and improve (Williams & Chinn, 2010). For sports marketers, social media is the perfect tool to utilize when creating relationship-marketing campaigns. It’s also the perfect tool for athletes to use to brand themselves. There are several social media platforms that are available to these sports organizations and athletes. Facebook is used to provide information, post pictures and videos, and promote upcoming events. YouTube is an endless source of video highlights and bloopers. Twitter is a quicker source of information and requires less time and effort than the other social media options (Witkemper, Lim, & Waldburger, 2012). With positives also comes negatives, and social media unfortunately can have a negative effect among sports organizations and athletes. Because social media is still closing in on its beginning stages, professionals are still feeling out how social media works, economically and of course socially.
Before social media, fans and those alike turned to newspaper, talk radio, and television to get statistics, scores, and bland interaction from coaches and players. Sports communication began in the 1920’s, the “Golden Age of Sport”. (Hancherick, 2011). Several developments fueled ...

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...i-gay remark on Twitter but was not punished by the NFL. Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburgh Steelers was condemned for his comments posted about Osama bin Laden and supporting Adrian Peterson’s comparison of the NFL with the slave trade. Professional athletes that care about their success and image need to recognize the sensitivity of the subject matters that they talk about. Whether these professionals like it or not, they are in the public eye and are considered role models by fans, parents, and children.
Not only does social media present issues for professional athletes, but prospective college athletes as well. Young athletes that are in high school or in college don’t understand that posting inappropriate content on social networks can be detrimental to their future as athletes. Trash talking coaches or other players could make colleges stray away from that

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