My blogging on Dyestat -- the internet home for high school track and field!
There are many considerations that athletic teams need to consider when it comes to social media. The University of North Carolina Football team investigation has initiated the ACC to look into having a set social media policy when it comes to student-athletes. Of course, having certain things set in the policy are important (ex. best practices, possible scenarios you might be faced with and what possible action steps to take, etc). Most of the sites that are referred to in this post includes Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube.
On a personal note, I find this interesting to see this from two different angles. I remember while competing for the track and field team both in high school and college, it was interesting to see how the coaches wanted to control who was getting noticed and recognized in the traditional media outlets. One of the benefits of having a personal website and contributing to online websites and blogs was the fact that this was another medium and did not have to go through gatekeepers. I remember having to go through with some of my online journal contributions to the sports information office for their “approval.” This was of course was during my time studying Public Relations, where I definitely understood the best practices on how to manage not only my reputation, but the reputation of the track and field team and university. Interesting. 🙂 This was also during a period of time where not many athletes had their own personal website – but I thought that this was a good way for fans and others in the track community to follow what I was doing and get to know me as a person and student-athlete.
By having my own website, I became my own PR person in managing my reputation. I competed for three universities in college where I had different reactions to having a personal website as a student-athlete. One university thought that it was very cool that I had a website, and it was something that made me unique compared to other track and field athletes. Another thought that it was a great way to promote the team and was cutting edge in giving me an opportunity to practice what I have learned in my undergraduate and graduate degrees in public relations. The other team was a fan of my website to a certain point, but wanted to be able to control what I posted and showcased on my site. Each university presented me with some unique experiences that helped me form some good online best practices in managing my online and offline reputation, and made me the public relations professional I am today.
Of course, there are definitely certain things that student-athletes need to be aware of in terms of managing their online reputation and some best practices. But completely censoring social media for student-athletes is not necessarily the best thing. What happens if they want to apply for a position after college and their employers are expecting them to have working knowledge and an online presence on these social media sites by having an online portfolio? The thing that athletic departments should do is provide more education on effective and proactive online reputation management with student-athletes, and create an engaging conversation with coaches and other supporting staff in understanding both the benefits and risks of social media. One of the issues that I think athletic departments are struggling with is that they can’t control the messages or the image necessarily for certain teams, players, and coaches like they used to be able to do. With social media, it is about sharing information – and having an ongoing conversation – and there are of course benefits and risks to this – and the athletic department in these various scenarios can either be part of the conversation and proactively manage their own image.
For student athletes, here are some of the best practices I have learned in my days as a track athlete I found useful for me in dealing with social media:
Be aware that you are a public figure: There will be fans that will love you, and there will be those that will not be fans of yours. You have to recognize what information is being presented about you online, and take ownership of your name on these social media sites. Creating a website allows people to go to a central place where you can establish the site as a credible and trustworthy source of information about you. This also means being aware that people can post or take pictures of you at various activities, so you have to be aware of these risks before you go and participate in these activities.
Always identify yourself online: Whether it is addressing questions from fans or posting on discussion boards, you need to make sure that you are identifying yourself online so people know that it is you.
Think before you post and think towards the future: Before you update, share information, or post videos or pictures of yourself – ask yourself how this is going to be perceived by others? Is this going to be reflective positively or negatively on my reputation? Also, be aware of the fact that what is posted online stays online – you have to think about where you want to be after your days as a student-athlete. Information like posts, pictures, and videos are going to be up for a very long time, so you have to be aware of this.
Take the higher road with dealing with unhappy fans: Fans on discussion boards who do not disclose their identity feel sometimes entitled to say whatever comes to their mind, even if they know that the student-athlete involved is doing the best that they can in the sport. There are certainly ways to make sure that you address these fans in the most appropriate manner.
However, the key point is that the technology is not the problem, but you have to question the human behavior that is being displayed in these situations. What social media has done is basically present to the online community behavior that might have always been there, but it is a view into something that might have been managed in the background previously. Instead, this behavior is acting right before our eyes. It is an interesting time for athletic departments and student-athletes, and I would imagine that there will be some set best practices in dealing with social media in the near future. Education and understanding of both the opportunities and challenges of social media should be the issue to focus on in this situation – because perception and first impressions are what are being formed with the information being presented online. Social media education and online reputation management are key areas in which student-athletes, coaches, and athletic staff need to understand.
These are just a few of my thoughts on the subject. Hope you all are having a wonderful day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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