Final University feature piece
Published on December 2013
COMMISSIONER Michael Roberts of Fair Work Commission Australia once described the social media law of probability as, "…the probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act. Here is wisdom."
Lately,
social media has made apparent the increasingly self-indulgent acts of
professional sports people. With little thought given to the implications of their use,
social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and recently Instagram have an
enormous potential to damage the reputation and brand of
the professional athlete.
Earlier this year, prominent
Super 15 Rugby players Kurtley Beale and Cooper Vuna, experienced such issues.
This was the result of posting comments regarding an off-field argument via
Twitter, an online social networking and micro-blogging service.
 |
| Spiderman. Source: Professional Athletes on Social Media: Why Some Get Fans and Others Fines by Thomas Van Schaik. |
The incident highlights two
common misunderstandings of social media by high profile athletes.
Firstly, the medium will make the athlete’s
actions (good, bad or indifferent) visible to everyone; secondly, the
consequences of the action whatever it may be will be amplified.
So when looking to embrace the use of social media what should a professional athlete consider?
Essentially, themselves.
Fox Sports Chief Rugby Commentator Greg Clark states that he doesn’t have a problem with professional athletes using social media provided they know the appropriate circumstances for its use.
“I think they [athletes] should be entitled to use it, I mean everyone else is entitled to use it so why not? There are pitfalls but generally speaking I think it’s a great way to keep people in touch with the athletes. If you follow athletes, they [followers] want to know what they are up to 24/7 so it’s a perfect way to feed the fans, so to speak. I’m a fan of athletes having the right to use it,” Clark said.
Never before has the behaviour of a professional athlete been so open to public scrutiny.
The Canberra Times sports writer Jon Tuxworth also believes social media mediums are an ideal way for professional sports people to express themselves and relate on a more personal level with their fans.
“If it’s used the right way, it’s a great way to learn a bit more to the other side of athletes outside of press conferences and talking about football,” Tuxworth said.
The Canberra Raiders are one of many sporting organisations that have brought in specialised social media trainers to benefit the players and Tuxworth thinks this can only be beneficial.
“It’s more to give them a bit more awareness of how they can avoid getting themselves into trouble and their profile on the club.”
Professional athletes can use social media to not only connect with fans but share their personal lives in ways they never could before.
Greg Clark states that much has changed since an athlete used to be a number, position, weight class or title.
“In the early days it was a free-for-all and people were going off and putting stuff out there. Although they were entitled to do it they were soon to regret what they put up after it received attention,” Clark said.
Today even the dawdlers acknowledge that ignoring social media is no longer an option. The majority of professional athletes has some kind of social presence. They share who their friends are, their pictures, and otherwise offer a view into their personal life. The social media channels of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram commonly offer athletes the opportunity to significantly strengthen their marketability but at the same time – if not handled with care – have the potential to seriously damage their private life, career, athletic performance and ‘personal brand’.
Certified
Sports Analyst for Sports Wizard Alex Belperio is a strong advocate of paid
athletes using social media and even believes the well behaved users should be
rewarded.
“I am a big believer that we should be in some ways rewarding professional athletes that use social media well. There are plenty of guys who go shooting their mouth off. One of the big things we do in our work across sports analysis is we often get told, ‘when you’re producing reports and doing any follow up work, don’t do anything straight after a game’, because the reality is you’re still emotional about things,” Belperio said.
Australian Rugby Sevens player Nick Malouf believes it is a necessity to be able to communicate with fans and friends through social media but only if common sense is on the agenda.
“I think it is essential to show not only the work we do on the field but be able to display what we enjoy doing off it,” Malouf said.
The effect social media has on the athlete’s performance has been another talking point for sometime. During the 2012 London Olympic Games Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm said social media was partly to blame for her failure to claim gold in the 100 metre backstroke event after qualifying fastest for the final.
“I don't know, I just felt like I didn't really get off [social media] and get into my own mind. I obviously need to sign out of Twitter and log out of Facebook a lot sooner than I did," Seebohm said.
This is just one of many examples that illustrate the numerous dangers when high profile athletes put themselves out there online.
Some sceptics are eager to enforce small bans or regulations on social media use for professional athletes but Malouf is adamant that the notion would be wrong.
“Absolutely not, at the end of the day, we are just like anyone else in any other profession that is successful.”
Rugby Sevens teammate Cameron Clark uses Twitter on most occasions to promote his sport and upcoming tournaments but is always conscious of what he posts.
“With player contracts, there will always be something saying not to bring your sport into disrepute, so anything that could be taken that way you’ve got to be conscious of in the media. You have to be mindful of how people perceive you,” Clark said.
Social media has presented the world of sports by successfully integrating the micro-blogging service into almost everything. Fans converse in real-time as game developments occur and the media now report on players’ tweets, while also using the social media platform as a more immediate distribution channel. While most see the positives, there is a negative side to all this access.
However the real picture is that professional athletes have responsibilities. Understanding the rules of social media is no different to understanding the rules of a professional athlete's chosen field of endeavour.
In 2011 Ed Jenkins, a social media strategist and managing partner of Confab Marketing & Design, produced five imperative ‘Rules of Engagement’ for professional athletes using social media and they are:
1.
Be a “cause” Champion: Advocate for a cause that’s close
to your heart either through personal experience or something close to your
situation.
2.
If you need to think about it, it’s not a good idea: Mama always said if you don’t
have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all (and she was right!) Also,
if you need to think about whether or not a tweet may be appropriate, IT’S NOT!
These age old lessons hold true in the world of social media too! One mistake
or misguided tweet by an athlete can completely destroy what they’ve spent
years working to create.
3.
Be content conscious: Have a content plan that is current, relevant and action driven.
Meaningless tweets are a turn off to fans and make it more difficult to
maintain an effective following. Those who make best use of twitter call
followers to action and create synergy among their overall digital profile.
4.
Post positively: Nobody likes negativity…stay positive in your post. Followers and fans
look forward to reading tweets or Facebook posts that are helpful, informative
and inspirational in nature. Constant negative posts will characterize your
brand and ultimately define your brand attitude.
5.
Don’t dilute the brand: NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson once said, “As
long as your brand is strong, you’ll always be able to make money.” Athletes
must be brand conscious at all times. As athletes strive to understand brand
value, many search for effective ways to build and promote that brand through
social media. Developing an action oriented plan for twitter and Facebook will
keep athletes focused and out of harm’s way when it comes to brand integrity.”
As
social media continues to evolve, and as athletes continue to express their
feelings about their performances, careers and life in general, those who
employ such individuals will likely be monitoring what they say.
Canberra United Media Manager Russ Gibbs said there was an incident a couple of seasons ago that revolved around one of his players using social media poorly.
“We [Canberra United] had a poor call go against us by a referee from our opinion. One of our players jumped on Twitter and made mention of the fact that they weren’t happy with the refereeing decisions they got. I monitored that, rang them up straight away, and said ‘Look, hey come on we can’t go around saying that because it looks poor from our club’s point of view.’ That was on the back of the Lisa De Vanna issue as well,” Gibbs said.
Alex Belperio wants some kind of system established where social media use from athletes is constantly monitored.
“If there was something in place that basically said ‘we don’t condone use of social media for the first 24 hours after a match.’ It’s not the end of the world if tomorrow you say ‘great win team, we played really well.’ It’d be better to leave it 24 hours later rather than in the heat of the moment going ‘the referee was at fault tonight.’” Belperio said.
Then again not all athletes such as Malouf and Clark would be content with such a system.
“No, it’s not like we are doing something bad, the majority of players interact with the public over social mediums with a lot of success and enjoyment,” Malouf said.
“People won’t agree with you all the time. Everyone has a right to post what they like whether it’s deemed right or wrong by some people,” Clark said.
From a journalist’s point of view, Tuxworth and Greg Clark are strongly against any suggestion of limiting professional athletes use online.
"If the clubs were to be watered down it would be pretty boring stuff. They’re all adults and all given a rundown of what’s acceptable and what’s not. Clubs can’t play babysitters with these guys all the time,” Tuxworth said.
“I don’t really pay too much about what they’re up to socially but it certainly keeps me in touch with how they’re going with their training regime, whether they’re fit whether they’re not fit, and I get a feel also as to how they are feeling about the upcoming competition,” Clark said.
The bottom line is that athletes who take to tweeting need to remember that those messages can become viral time bombs in such a short period of time.
Even if there is an apology to a message they made, the athlete can suffer repercussions for some time to come. Among those problems can be suspensions, fines and loss of pricey endorsements.
Russ Gibbs has no sympathy for those athletes who decide to post at their own will without taking the immeasurable audiences watching into consideration.
“They have to be 100% responsible. We always say that if you don’t want the comment printed, then don’t write it or say it. That’s one of our number one rules. If you go ahead and write it then you are accountable for what you say. We monitor our athletes in our media interviews and we can jump if they’re going to say something inappropriate. On social media, as soon as they press that button that sends it out into the wide world then that is their comment and their responsibility,” Gibbs said.
Unfortunately it’s still tricky to see the finish line for the end of this debate that arguably won’t ever be won. Determining whether social media regulation or deregulation is better for athletes (or even employees) has to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
For example, some brands, such as the Ultimate Fighter Champion series, aren’t worried about bad press and see the advantages of having a loose reign on their athlete’s social media activities. Other brands such as the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League (AFL) are worried that history will repeat itself with athletes posting inappropriately.
Belperio, who resides in Canberra, states he comes across grim examples where elite athletes put not only themselves but their sporting organisation to shame.
"I can never get over some of stuff that comes out of the Raiders camp. It’s been so degrading and demeaning to the brand. It’s been disrespectful to the club. I think the club has a little bit to answer there in terms of maybe its culture, the way its set up, and maybe the way the players potentially fit in,” Belperio said.
In this age of celebrity obsession and 24/7 media, any sensitive issue can go viral in a matter of minutes. It would be wise for athletes to engage in posting cautiously. Athletes are professionals and are considered role models—whether they like it or not.
The future of social media at this stage will seem to be the centre of attention for all people, whether they are paid athletes or not. The more that social media takes over, which it will, there will also be less issues with players as the next generation will undeniably be more grown up with all the possible up and downsides of using it.
Greg Clark knows that there is a lot of effort going into training athletes for exactly this.
“I know the Rugby Union Players Association have got plans to increase their social media training. And I assume that’s the same with the AFL, NRL, A-League etc. and even swimming. It’s going to leak in fewer wrongdoers. Sometimes you might get criticism from one of the followers and your first reaction obviously is to take it to heart. But you can’t really take this stuff seriously all the time,” Clark said.
We’re only in the beginning stages of determining what is customary in the space of social media usage. One thing is certain, however: social media is here to stay – whether brands want to deal with it or not. For this exact reason professional athletes are better off to ‘go with the flow’, continue to learn off others, and above all their own mistakes.
Bibliography
Jenkins.
E., (2013). 5 Rules of Engagement for
Professional Athletes Using Social Media, viewed on 23 November 2013,
http://www.marketingmel.com/2013/08/06/5-rules-of-engagement-for-professional-athletes-using-social-media/
Van
Schaik. T., (2011). Professional athletes
on social media: why some get fans and others fines, viewed on 22 November
2013, http://www.sportsnetworker.com/2011/09/19/professional-athletes-on-social-media-why-some-get-fans-and-others-fines/
