When it comes to the topic regarding social media and professional athletes, most of us readily agree that social media has multiple effects on athletes in today’s sports world. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of the relationship between social media and professional athletes. While some are convinced that social media oftentimes impacts athletes in a more negative way then a positive one, others believe that social media is what helps some athletes by altering their reputations, receiving endorsements and keeping in touch with fans. Twitter is the most popular social media application used by athletes because it is used as a foundation for their fans to use to stay connected. In recent years, Twitter has also been the perfect target towards athletes because writers and journalists search for tweets to produce stories and create headlines from to keep news circulating and fans intrigued. 

Many people assume that Twitter is a place where any individual can freely express their thoughts and feelings about a certain topic or issue. Twitter is approached here as a relatively new online service that is attracting media coverage, and a media practice undertaken by millions of users. Nowadays, however, the more of a celebrity you are, like professional athletes, the more you get criticized by certain things being said. Twitter adds another layer to an already complicated ‘media sports cultural complex’ that is seeing analogue, broadcast and print media bypassed, challenged, and complemented by digital networked media sport. (Hutchins, The Acceleration of Media Sport Culture). As complex as the sports world already is, with only an 140-word limit that lasts for a remembrance for only about ten minutes has become detrimental to the relationship between professional athletes and social media. “Twitter has retrieved the telegram. It is a good telegram: Short little sentences and things that are important for the next five minutes, but not so important after that,” (Silverman). 

As unimportant as one tweet may seem to be, there are several individuals that take other opinions to the heart and criticize every little word that others may tweet that they do not agree with. The academic journal, “The Acceleration of Media Sport Culture”, stated an intriguing statement about how journalists go ‘scandal hunting’. ‘Scandal hunting’ is the act when journalists or writers of the sports world search through multiple athletes’ social media profiles to find tweets, pictures, or posts to damage careers and reputations that these athletes worked almost their entire lives to achieve. Successful athletes in their sport, deal with vicious journalists each and everyday. Many people contend that there is a tense relationship between media and athletes. I completely agree this however, I believe that the sports world today try to bash athletes more rather than applauding them for their accomplishments.

 This is why it’s extremely crucial that these athletes keep in mind that even though we all have the right to freedom of speech. Media has definitely accelerated throughout the years and impacted athletes everyday. 

In addition to how Twitter came about and its original use, there are several statistics about much social media alone consumes an individual’s daily life. Based off my research, I read an article found on Google about how much the world has let social media consume their personal lives. In 2011, 20% of Internet users in the United States are using Twitter and this number has grown from 22% in 2012 and is projected to rise to 24% in 2018 (The Impact of Social Media on Sports).  The risks that go a long with social media presence include difference in opinion or personality. The article talks about the drastic changes of Twitter and how these changes soon affected professional athletes and their lives. 

The social media platform that has been created for these athletes allows them to let their fans show love and support on and off of the field. However, athletes can get support for their great performances that they do on the field but when it comes to voicing their opinions on a specific topic it becomes an issue. Politics is especially a touchy subject to speak on. For example, with Trump becoming President being the talk of the nation, there have been a lot of celebrities and professional athletes that have broadcasted their opinions and feelings about Trump and have had many of their fans turn against them because they do not come in to agreeance with what they said. LeBron James and Steph Curry are prime examples of this situation. Their responses were nowhere close to friendly comments about Trump and his recent decisions. Although there should not be any difference whether it’s an athlete that voices their opinion or anyone else in society about politics because everyone has freedom of speech and that should be applied to everyone fairly. Looking over my research, athletes are affected more in a negative way rather than positive because of how connected and open everyone is on social media. 

Another noteworthy point I formed in  my research is about the more positive effect social media has on today’s athletes. Based off on a newspaper article I read, author, Matt Langone, informs reader’s how supreme social media’s powers really are and how much they have evolved. Matt Langone states that social media helps with providing instantaneous information about athletes’ performance stats and ratings. According to this article, a report in the New York Times stated that there were 150 million tweets about the London Olympic Games, compared to 125,000 tweets during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 (Langone).  This shows how much social media has evolved and has become such a vital aspect in our everyday lives.

 The Olympic Games was when social media has it’s breakout because earlier this summer, the entire world witnessed social media completely dominate and reshape the Olympic Games, or commonly referred to as to the Social Media Games (Langone). It was referred to as that because of how many tweets, pictures and videos were posted throughout the weeks of the Games. Several athletes retrieved hundreds of followers a day because of the amount of viewers that watch the Games. This happens because the more people remember the ones who medal or are breaking records the more they are going to want to follow that athlete and look into their lifestyles.

Matt Langone insists that the evolution of social media greatly affects the sports world and that it has evolved as well. It is said that 26% of sports fans use social media to follow their favorite sports, leagues, athletes, etc (Langone). This benefits athletes because the more people that know their name, means more endorsements and sponsors that will come and offer them deals to help them promote their company. This now enables that athlete to be the face of the that company and get an extra ego boost as well as an extra check in the bank. However, it was found that some Olympians were banned from competing this past summer because of racist and insulting tweets that were found, restricting them from competition. As said in previous paragraphs, professional athletes need to monitor their posts, tweets and pictures at all times, because one slip up can become a major headline in the sports world ready to demolish an athletes’ reputation. 

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Everyone in America knows that these are two of the biggest names in the NBA. During the prime days of Shaquille O’Neal’s basketball career social media wasn’t as evolved as it was during the later half of Kobe’s career. He still interacts, with supporters and fans and sets up meet-and-greets so he can stay connected to everyone that watched him achieve success over the years. The article that I read informed its readers about how social media as a whole has exploded over the past few years and it has introduced new opportunities, along with its share of challenges, with respect to how we communicate. 

I concur that the social media and professional athletes are completely related. Ben Pickering’s asserted that professional athlete’s and social media have both positive and negative effects on each other. It is pointed out, contrary to Pickering’s claims, the relationship is still present and becomes worse throughout the years. Yet some viewers may challenge my views by insisting that the relationship isn’t decreasing even where there is clear correlation that it is. 

Mentioned by author, Ben Pickering, that most professional sports leagues have instituted social media policies that prohibit athletes from posting or tweeting during games and for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours before and after the game (Pickering, Athletes and Social Media). For example, Kobe Bryant had a torn Achilles injury during one season and went on a complete rant on Twitter about how he felt about his situation and just letting out all his frustration. The responses to his rant went both ways. Some of his fans were there for him, while others found it inappropriate of Kobe to lash out all his anger on Twitter and felt that he should’ve expressed his feelings in a different manner. Kobe has several company endorsements, specifically Nike, that incorporate his name and face into these brands to help his name-recognition reach higher levels and also become social media savvy. They start to become ‘social media celebrities.’

In short, social media has been affecting the lives and careers of professional athletes throughout the years. Twitter can be a dangerous but also beneficial social platform for athletes. Athletes that stay connected with their fans play a vital role when it comes to keeping their fan base strong and growing. On the other hand, social media can become a target factor and become detrimental to an athletes reputation (Barrett, Us Vs. Them). Athletes freely expressing their thoughts and opinions on popular subjects can cause controversy and chaos between many people involved in the social media world. Research shows that social media is consuming so much of our everyday lives that Twitter has created this ‘keep-in-touch’ environment that everyone seems to be addicted to. 

Ultimately, research also shows that the society plays an important role in the effects of social and professional athletes. Today’s sports world is already complex enough and with the addition of social media, which is also complex, makes the sports world, and the athletes in it, lives so much harder. They need to be monitored and restricted to post during certain times to prevent controversy and a lot of attention because ‘scandal hunting’ is one of the most brutal acts invented. Writers and journalists search for posts day by day to find the next big headline to discuss in the sports world.

 It’s difficult for athletes to be treated equally in society because we treat them like celebrities therefore we hold them to higher standards. Standards so high they are nearly close to perfect and not ideal. Its normal to have emotions and disagree with certain things and professional athletes shouldn’t be criticized for doing so. Although there should not be any difference whether it’s an athlete that voices their opinion or anyone else in society everyone has freedom of speech and that should be applied to everyone fairly.
