In today’s world, it is very common for people to own and use social media accounts such as twitter, facebook, and Instagram. These websites and apps make it easy for people to communicate and share what they are doing with others online. However, these accounts can also lead to highly controversial situations depending on what someone decides to post. This is magnified in the world of celebrities and other famous people such as professional athletes. These people are constantly being followed by thousands of fans and anything they post online will be viewed by many of them within seconds. This means that anything they say will be interpreted by thousands of people almost instantly. One mistake or miscue could lead to extreme issues for these people as it could affect their reputation with the public. This has been seen through several sports with athletes such as Johnny Manziel, Ryan Lochte and many others. Although the use of social can lead to trouble for many professional athletes, it also can improve their popularity among fans and can be used to help with very good causes. Many athletes such as LeBron James and Tim Tebow among others use their accounts in a way to spread awareness for fundraising and other philanthropic events. This, compared to the negative effects of social media, puts a positive light on the use of social media in sports. However, the ways athletes use social media in negative ways damage their reputation and therefore have a much more lasting impact on their lives. Overall, the cons of social media use by college and professional athletes with the potential damage to their reputations and careers far outweigh the pros of self-marketing and philanthropy.

Many athletes can make big mistakes by saying certain things over social media. These mistakes can lead to fans developing negative mindsets towards these players and potential repercussions from their respective teams. A prime example of this is Johnny Manziel. “Manziel's social media use has served not only to portray himself in a negative light, but has also helped amplify and fuel extended media coverage of his antics beyond that which would have occurred in a pre-social media news environment” (Bell). Among the many things he has done, mostly through Twitter, he has caused many issues for himself and the teams he has represented. Many of his teammates, coaches, and reporters of his teams have criticized his actions. “When you look at a guy like Johnny Manziel's antics and his Twitter posts, you can't help but put the blame on him for bringing constant embarrassment to himself and his school” (Bell). This shows that the way an athlete uses social media can be easily spread around through the real media and can amplify what should be small effects into extremely large ones. Yes, Johnny Manziel is making a mistake by committing the actions he has, but the addition of social media to his antics only intensifies the negative publicity he receives. Now instead of only a handful of people seeing what he does in his spare time, his life is being to broadcast to thousands. 

Posting what a professional or college athlete may think is a small and innocent comment or picture online can have rather large effects, especially considering the topic they may be talking about. “This past summer, UCLA’s (University of California Los Angeles) Quarterback, Josh Rosen, posted a picture on Instagram of himself golfing on a course owned by Donald Trump while wearing a hat with the words, ‘Fuck Trump’ written across the top” (New). This caused an uproar from the media and many followers of the Bruins Football team. “Head Coach Jim Mora addressed the issue with Rosen and stated that Rosen needed to be more socially responsible” (New). This means that Mora believes Rosen needs to be more cautious of what he posts online and must hold himself accountable to his actions. This is a clear example as to how athletes can cause distractions for themselves by posting unnecessary things over social media. Rosen did not need to post this, instead he did it impulsively and as a result him and his University faced a backlash from many reporters and fans. Social media accounts of athletes should not be used to showcase the individual’s political views because it can cause a distraction to not only themselves but to their entire team as well. If a player causes a distraction to their team, they will not only be harming their reputation with fans, but also their teammates and coaches as well. No teammate or coach will want to deal with issues created by someone else’s poor decision. Even though these athletes have the right of free speech, in certain circumstances it is not the wisest decision to use it.

Another example of a young athlete making a mistake over social media is Anthony Morgan, a highly sought after basketball recruit who tampered with his future by having an inappropriate twitter name. “A coach at one school told Morgan they stopped pursuing him after finding out his twitter name. When Morgan eventually went to McDaniel College to play, one of the first things his college coach told him was, ‘Change your username, and do it now’” (Seip). This shows how many young athletes can tend to not think much of something they post online about themselves or others when it can actually turn out to have a major impact on their lives. Social media is different from someone saying something in real life because when a person is speaking, they say something and then it is over. When something is posted online it can potentially stay there forever, potentially creating some serious issues down the line.

Even when athletes are not posting something on social media themselves, they still can face consequences of potential punishment from their team. One notable example of this would be an incident that took place involving two athletes who at the time were members of the basketball team at Indiana University. During the season, “Yogi Ferrell and Stanford Robinson got into trouble with the law when they were cited attempting to enter a nightclub underage in downtown Bloomington. During the incident, a random passerby broadcast the news on twitter” (Osterman). This created chaos for these players as they were already in an unfortunate situation but now were being broadcast across the internet for thousands of people to know. This not only damaged their reputation with their team but also tainted their reputations throughout their entire college campus. Also, because it was spread over the internet the news was most likely leaked to practically everyone these athletes have ever come in contact with. From their hometown friends to their parent’s coworkers, these people were most likely aware of these two men’s poor decisions. This illustrates how dangerous social media can be for athletes, specifically college athletes in this case. If they make one mistake, even if in retrospect this mistake will not have big effects on their life, thousands of people will know. This will not only impact their present-day lives, but can also lead to repercussions down the line in life as well such as a decrease in their draft stock or, if they do not plan on turning professional, trouble finding another job. Employers will not want to hire people who are famous for getting in trouble and in this case, that is what these two are.

The addition of social media in sports can add to heated rivalries, however, sometimes things that are said can be over the top to the point where they can create unnecessary tension between opposing teams. Back in 2012, “a Michigan State University linebacker tweeted a response to rival Michigan’s loss by saying, ‘Denard Robinson is sooooo bad! And it makes me feel so good!’. This tweet, along with two others about the Michigan Quarterback became national news overnight and led to an outraged coach. In a press conference the next day Mark Dantonio told reporters, ‘Our guys need to keep their mouths shut,’ and asked, ‘Is there a shut-your-account-off that I can just throw a switch?’” (Steinbach). This shows that by making these statements and creating national headlines, these football players were making an unnecessary gesture that caused a distraction to their own team. Actions such as this can create a reputation for players and teams as unsportsmanlike and trashy. This is not a reputation any team wants to have as it will not only affect the way the media reports on them, but it can also lead to a decrease in fans. “This has become such a frequent occurrence in college sports that many coaches such as Boise State’s Chris Peterson, South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier, and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher have thrown at least a figurative switch by banning their players from using twitter” (Steinbach). By doing this, these coaches are hoping to stay away from any hazards the use of social media can potentially cause to their players. “This movement has gone so far among some coaches that they are even beginning to hire companies such as UDiligence and Varsity Monitor which use software algorithms to flag potentially embarrassing or damaging words and phrases, as well as the proper names of rival players and sports agents, if and when they pop up in a student athlete’s Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube posts. Coaches are then alerted automatically” (Steinbach). If coaches need to go to these vast of lengths in order to ensure that their players are being smart over the internet, there is no reason for these athletes to be on these websites in the first place. Whenever someone posts something over social media, it is there for potentially anyone to see and their privacy is compromised. Even if an account is set on private, nothing is truly protected. 

Although there is clearly a plethora of negatives of the use of social media in sports, there are in fact some potential positives. However, even with these positives come some negatives. First off, athletes can use social media to make a name for themselves. This can be a very good thing as it can make a rather unknown athlete into a household name. A clear example of this is Nick Young, the basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers who made a name for himself over social media with his occasional funny and strange antics and his self-proclamation of the nickname, Swaggy P. As a result of his massive following on social media, he had a huge following before he even became good as a professional basketball player. However, this also had its negatives as he become more and more well-known. Being a well-known athlete, even if they are not considered a star leads to them being scrutinized after almost each and every move they make on and off the playing field. This became major news last season when rumors began to speculate of Young cheating on his wife. If he had been less known of a name this event would not have been nearly as big of news. However, because he was such a well-known name this became a media frenzy and Young’s personal life was extremely violated as a result. However, another huge factor in this event was that Young was recorded talking about cheating on his wife in the Lakers locker room where D’angelo Russell, a young teammate of Young’s, allegedly recorded the conversation and posted it to social media. This is another clear example of how the use of social media by athletes is extremely unnecessary in many circumstances. Obviously Young is in the wrong in this situation based off of his actions but there was no need for Russell to actually take the time to post something like this on his social media account. It clearly brought unneeded aspects into the situation that was bad enough to begin with. Not only did Young have to deal with his own familial issues, he now had to deal with criticisms from fans, the media, and his own teammates. This clearly shows how social media tends to amplify situations.

In contrast to all of the negative examples given so far, athletes can use social media to raise awareness for certain causes and to bring together people with aims toward philanthropy. “Former New York Yankee Nick Swisher is a prime example of an athlete using social media to maximum effect. As a result of his social media presence he was asked by Mercedes to participate in the car manufacturer’s Super Bowl Campaign. He enlisted the support of his twitter followers and in the process helped to not only raise his profile but also money for his charity” (Pickering). Because news is spread so quickly through social media, followers of these athletes can act quickly when it comes to fundraising. These followers can help these athletes and the companies they are supporting not only reach their goals, but go above and beyond them as well. The fast nature of social media shows a positive nature in this case, but it also is the reason behind many issues listed previously along with countless others. Thousands of people are on social media this instant and even something taken down almost instantly will have been seen by these people. All it takes is one click for an athlete to make a mistake that could severely harm their reputation.

Another positive of social media in sports is the marketing perspective. When athletes are seen promoting a company through their social media accounts, it can do great things for the sales of the company.  “Catalyst Public Relations conducted a study that explored the attitudes and habits of NFL, NBA, MLB and college football and basketball fans on social media. Of primary interest to marketers is the finding that sports fans that follow their favorite athletes on social media are 55% more likely to purchase a brand if an athlete mentions it on Facebook or Twitter” (Pickering). When a fan sees an athlete mentioning a particular product on their twitter or facebook or sees them wearing a particular article of clothing on their Instagram, fans looking to idolize these athletes will be convinced to buy these products. The sight of an athlete wearing a particular item of clothing or doing a certain action creates a need for many fans to replicate these athletes and repeat their actions. This can be a negative if what the athlete is doing is not something that is seen as good behavior. If children see these actions, the athlete can be viewed as a poor role model and their reputation will be tainted amongst older fans. If an athlete is seen as a negative role model, no team will want to have them and the future of their career could be put in jeopardy.

Although the two positives of social media use by athletes do have substantial gains for these athletes and many other people in society, it is still very evident that the negatives of social media in sports can do much more damage than the positives can do to benefit. By raising awareness for a particular cause or helping a company earn profit athletes can make a good name for themselves, however, if they are saying terrible things over social media that go against the beliefs of many people, this athlete’s reputation may be damaged beyond repair. Yes, a person can do good through social media but once people begin to view someone in a negative way in today’s day and age, that person, especially if they are someone well-known or famous such as a professional or college athlete, will have a tough time gaining respect of the thousands of people using social media platforms around the world. Damage done through social media is often unrepairable and once something bad is done, the athlete practically loses their ability to do good in the eyes of many. When you weigh the pros and cons of social media use by athletes, the scale will tip extremely towards the cons. The ways these cons can impact the lives of these people clearly has a much more lasting impact than the small nods of approval one may get from acts of philanthropy or marketing.
