While it
is possible for anyone to exercise poor judgement in their use of social media,
such gaffes are magnified when they are committed by popular or high-profile
individuals. College athletes are no
exception to this rule. Scrutinized by
the media, especially if they are gifted in a particular sport, or are a key contributor
to a successful sports program, college athletes have found that the high standards
expected of them on the field, also apply to their activities off the field and
on social media.
Let’s
take for example the story of Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Cardale
Jones. A year before helping to lead the
Buckeyes to the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship,
Jones was a third-string freshman quarterback.
In a fit of frustration at having only gotten a B on a sociology exam, Jones
infamously tweeted the following: (Ward, 2014)
The
fallout from the ill-thought, impulsive tweet came quickly, as it immediately
went viral before finally being deleted, but not after sports news outlets,
including ESPN and The Bleacher Report,
picked up on the story and reported it. While
there was a smattering of support and sympathy for his plight, comments from
the online community about tweet varied from mostly mocking and poking fun at Jones
to outright insulting and disparaging him.
Ohio State would go on to suspend him for one game, issuing a statement
reminding their students who use social media to be “respectful, appropriate
and aware that their communications can impact many people” and to “remember
not to post or tweet anything that could embarrass themselves, their team,
teammates, the university, their family or other groups, organizations or
people” (Cardale Jones: Classes pointless,
2012). In an
instant, Cardale Jones had gone from a promising young athlete to an internet
punchline. Ole Miss went so far as to
use Jones’s tweet in a textbook for its freshmen students as an example of what
not to do on social media (Watson, 2013).
To his credit, however, Jones appears to have taken the lessons of his
poor experience with Twitter to heart. According
to Buckeyes head coach, Urban Meyer, a full two years after the incident, Jones
was now “one of the most improved players I've ever been around. The correlation between handling your
business off the field and on the field, he does a good job in the classroom now.
It wasn't pleasant his first year here ... but he's changed.” And in Jones’s own words, "You know, I
can take the heat from people from the outside looking in. But I was more
worried about the fact that I embarrassed the university, the football program
and definitely my family. That's what I cared about. Just growing up, I'd say
that was one of the steppingstones" (Ward, 2014).
So what are the solutions to this problem? Should Ohio State go so far as to ban the use of
social media for their athletes in order to protect their reputations and the
reputations of their sports programs? How about monitoring students' social media usage? Personally, I think such methods are reactionary and do little to
address the heart of the problem, which is properly educating students in the use of social media. Colgate
University encourages its student-athletes to actively participate in social
media, but also educates them “on what should be said as opposed to what
shouldn’t be” and using the platforms in positive ways to market themselves and
make themselves more attractive to recruiters and potential employers
(Grasgreen, 2013). Likewise, monitoring companies
like Varsity Monitor and UDiligence can help manage and respond to incidents
quickly, but the key to preventing social media mistakes starts with educating
the users.
References:
Cardale Jones: Classes pointless [article]. (2012, October 6). Retrieved
from http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8466428/ohio-state-buckeyes-cardale-jones-tweets-classes-pointless
Grasgreen,
A. (2013, August 20). Tweet smart, tweet
often [article]. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/20/instead-telling-athletes-not-tweet-colgate-shows-how-social-media-can-work-them
Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an
irresistible brand,and be generally amazing on Facebook (and other social
networks). New York, N.Y.:McGraw-Hill
Ward, A.
(2014, December 23). Infamous Cardale Jones tweet a
'steppingstone' [article]. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/113177/infamous-cardale-jones-tweet-a-stepping-stone
Watson,
G. (2013, October 22). Infamous Ohio
State tweet ends up in an Ole Miss textbook [article]. Retrieved from http://spo
Hi Mike- Great Post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a perfect example of how 140-characters can go a long way. Though Jones deleted the tweet as well as his account, news outlets picked it up and the tweet was seen everywhere, including as you mention in textbooks. Sometimes athletes just need to think before they tweet, which was not the case for Jones. According to Ward (2014) he was upset about getting a poor grade on an exam and quickly took his frustration out on Twitter. "I remember I was in class, and I think I got, like, a B on a [sociology] exam," Jones said. "It was just something so stupid; of course I didn't feel that way about academics, and I don't. Nobody in this program feels that way, we actually take that stuff very serious around here.” (Ward, 2014).
I like how you mention the fact that Jones learned from this mistake and matured from it. His coach said he is one of the most improved players because of the tweet and now does a good job in the classroom (Ward, 2014). It’s unfortunate that this happened to him but in some regard it helped shape who he is today. I wonder if there are other examples of athletes like this?
I completely agree with you about social media education. Teaching and discussing the responsible use of social media is the key to preventing these mistakes from happening. I never took a responsible social media class in college and I am not sure they offered one. My boyfriend however played hockey at my school and he told me that the first week of class the athletes had a one-hour discussion about proper use of social media. Though where I went to college was not Division I or widely popular, I still think it’s important students as well as athletes learn what appropriate social media means.
The New York City Department of Education (DOE) released the Student Social Media Guidelines in 2014 which outlines social media responsibility both within and outside the school community. It outlines recommendations for healthy social media communications; provides ideas about how to create a smart digital footprint; and informs you about what to do if you become aware of dangerous postings or other hurtful information. This might be something colleges look into creating for freshmen orientation programs. Even giving students a copy of this guideline in their welcome packets is not a bad idea. http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/9765B2DF-9BD5-42AA-8D85-005D0FC8AA23/0/Student_Social_MediaGuidelines_finalv3_20140128.pdf
Did you ever take a responsible social media class in college or maybe even attend a lecture?
References:
Ward, A. (2014, December 23). Infamous Cardale Jones tweet a 'steppingstone' [article]. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/113177/infamous-cardale-jones-tweet-a-stepping-stone
Thanks for your comments Kara. Unfortunately when I was in college, social media was still very much in its infancy and development stages, so there were no guidelines on what responsible social media usage looked like, and there were certainly no classes available at the time. I've probably learned more about social media usage from taking this course than I would have had I not.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I've always been a firm a believer in the idea that mistakes, while unfortunate, are opportunities that make us wiser if we draw the right lessons from them. Rather than sweeping this controversy under the rug, Jones owned up to his error and turned it into a chance to improve himself, which I certainly admire and respect. Educating students early on about using social media responsibly and intelligently is key to preventing mistakes, but just as effective could be acknowledging that mistakes are bound to happen and drawing useful lessons when those mistakes do occur.
Great response Mike, I agree. Some people let mistakes and hardship get the best of them, other use those instances as opportunities to learn and improve. I think Jones did a good job deleting the tweet and staying out of the media spotlight to focus on his football and academics. However, instead of deleting his social media presence, I would have liked to see Jones use social media to apologize to the institution and work on transforming his image as a student athlete. If we look at the Jones situation as a case study for brand marketing, we can not expect to simply delete a text and our brands twitter account when we make a mistake in a post. Instead, we must acknowledge the mistake and make a social effort to improve that image.
DeleteMichael Vick is a great example of this approach from an athlete. For the record, I am not a big Michael Vick fan. As a proud father of two beautiful, loving, pitbulls, I think dog fighting is horrible and inexcusable. However, where most athletes would try to ignore the issue, Vick has become very vocal in his apologies, acknowledges his mistakes, and has even become a strong supporter for anti-dog fighting with the Humane Society. "With success comes a lot of responsibility. This is my responsibility. Because it's not just about me, it's about every kid that I can affect." (Vick, 2012).
Good example Brian. Michael Vick did in fact improve his image by apologizing and acknowledging his mistakes. More celebrities need to realize that ignoring a problem, especially on social media, is not the answer.
DeleteWell said Mike! Thanks
ReplyDeleteOh the days when I was in college when cell phones were just becoming popular with the masses...no social media or texting. While we had digital cameras to document our high and low points, comments like this one never went as far as John told Joe, Joe told Stacy and Stacy told coach. Coach replied with a wise crack, Jones worked it out on the field, and it was long forgotten by the next day. At that time, student athletes didn't have to answer to the general public, their followers, and other media. Neither did the coach or the university unless the situation was a major news headline.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent example of a silly comment by a young student athlete taken out of context on twitter which caused himself, his school, and his team a great deal of embarrassment. It’s likely to follow him throughout his career. This particular example made me think of my 19 year old son who is heavily engaged in social media (and the risks of social media). While I do not have a formal or written social media policy, we still have established household social media rules. Two that I tell my son:
1. Old saying: If you do not have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.
2. No bathroom stall tweets or posts- meaning don’t post distasteful comments that would be better suited for a public bathroom stall. (Not that we condone writing on walls of any nature but this language resonates with my son).
From a parent perspective, monitoring my child’s social media presence is an essential part of my job. I do know there is a lot of private activity that I don’t see- but that’s ok, I can’t know everything. My concern is public content that could damage his reputation and/or cause unnecessary embarrassment and negative attention. Fortunately, he’s a great kid. From my personal experience I can relate to a college or university wanting to monitor their student athletes on social media. I would equate this to monitoring them outside of training and class in general such as drinking at the club the night before a game. Or drug testing for that matter. I would consider testing a urine sample much more invasive than viewing public information posted to a social media site.
From a professional point of view, I found the Army Social Media Handbook very interesting and useful from this weeks readings on the topic of behavior and conduct on social media. I actually have never seen it before this class, though. Up until just recently, we have been using our best judgement when posting on our organizational page. One thing that is unique to the military’s use of social media is that all active duty members are subject to (and can be punished under) the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) if material posted violates the UCMJ even off duty and for personal use. From the Army’s Social Media Handbook:
“Follow the Uniform Code of Military Justice Soldiers using social media must abide by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) at all times. Commenting, posting or linking to material that violates the UCMJ or basic rules of Soldier conduct is prohibited. Social media provides the opportunity for Soldiers to speak freely about their activities and interests. However, Soldiers are subject to UCMJ even when off duty, so talking negatively about supervisors or releasing sensitive information is punishable under the UCMJ. It is important that all Soldiers know that once they log on to a social media platform, they still represent the Army.”
U.S. Army Social Media Social Media Handbook. (2013, January). Retrieved from http://www.arcent.army.mil/docs/default-document-library/social_media_handbook_version3-1.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Thanks for your feedback Kimberly! It sounds like you’ve given your son sage advice with regard to how he uses his social media. I think your example speaks to my point of properly educating students in the responsible use of social media. Social media is so ubiquitous nowadays, that we forget that its only really been around for a few years. The reason that incidents like Cardale Jones’s, or Desean Jackson’s in your posting, seem to occur so frequently is because social media is still a relatively young medium, and the rules for its responsible use were, and still are being written on the fly as new mistakes occur. I mentioned in my response to Kara that I view mistakes as learning opportunities, and I hope we’ll find further down the road that these incidents will become less common as more wisdom is gleaned and shared from the social media mistakes made by today’s users. Responsible social media education in tandem with common sense social media guidelines laid out by the education institution, as opposed to outright bans, is the only effective means, in my opinion, to prevent or at least mitigate future incidents from occurring.
DeleteAbsolutely, I think over time these mistakes will occur less often...in many cases I believe they already are less common. Embracing the media is the only option!
ReplyDeleteHi Kim-
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your perspective on social media in regards to your son Kim. I think the two rules you mention are great and will really go a long way! It's great you are teaching him now, as more parents should probably make this an essential part of their job.