I fully expect to see either Bosh or Wade tweet: "Man, it's a windy day here today!" and then see stories like, "WADE TO CHICAGO ALL BUT OFFICIAL."
But just how "in control" are athletes when every tweet, no matter how banal, becomes a source of speculation, as Deleon suggests. Yes, Twitter gives athletes power. Yes, it allows them to speak directly to their fans. But what happens after that? Tweets don't exist in a vacuum and without the proper context, I'm sure any 140-character message can be misinterpreted - especially during a time of free agency. So, while athletes can begin the narrative, journalists can finish it any way they want to. Sports stars can easily lose control of their own messages if they don't respond to speculation surrounding them.
At the Play by Play event some of the class attended last week, panelists briefly touched on the PR dangers of Twitter. If you were a PR agent for any athlete, would you see Twitter as a threat or opportunity - or both?
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Considering the take-over of social media in today's PR and day-to-day world, I think PR professionals have to see Twitter as an opportunity or they'll be doing their clients more harm than good. However, it is of course up to the PR professional to decide what is appropriate in the specific situation -- and if an athlete's past behavior indicates that tweeting would actually be detrimental to the athlete's reputation, then other forms of social media should be considered. That being said, I think it's important that any athlete undergo some sort of "tweet-training" so that they can learn what tweets are interesting, beneficial and crowd-rousing, and not unnecessary or even offensive. If an athlete is able to effectively harness the power of Twitter, the opportunities of this social media platform by far outweigh its risks!
Twitter is definitely something that can be used by athletes to gain popularity. This notoriety, however, can be gained in ways that can both enhance or be detrimental to an athletes career. At the Social Media Clubs discussion about social media and sports, the panelists were talking about how through social media athletes can create their own personalities completely separate of their team affiliation.
Some sports leagues, like the NHL, are embracing this. Teams like the Washington Capitals have many players that use social media to connect with fans and provide publicity for charitable organizations. The NFL, however, is hesitant to use social media. Maybe this is because the NFL has had problems in the past with players saying inappropriate or misinterpreted comments. This can have serious backlash on a team or the organization as a whole.
While social media provides a great opportunity for athletes who have a following to promote their team, charities, etc., it also needs to be used appropriately or can have serious repercussions.
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