Social Media In College Sports

The power of social media has just barely been tapped for recruitment, engagement, and interactive communication in the world of sports. Advantages of using social media to reach out to the public as well as recruiting the best players using Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites with few drawbacks, tech-savvy universities and sports media personnel stand to reap the benefits exponentially.
The use of social media in the sports world has grown astronomically and will only continue to do so. The use of Twitter, and more rarely Facebook, has become an accepted means of communicating with the public. In previous years when social media just started booming, some coaches prohibited the use of social media by players all together. Since

Rather than depending on high school coaches, university athletic recruiters and coaches are now using social media sites to communicate and gather personal information about their prospects (Trotter). Athletic departments use technology tools to connect with prospects more quickly and more often. Many programs can share much more about their programs and athletic facilities before the players ever step foot on campus (Talty). Coaches have shared that they can keep up with which of their rivals are also recruiting the same players. This medium also gives coaches and programs a chance to weed out possibly problematic

Professional athletes are beginning to learn how to use social media to connect with their fans. Shaquille O'Neal uses his twitter account to hint at locations where he may be for meet-ups with his fans (Pickering). However, it doesn't take celebrity status like Shaq's to make an impact on social media. Nick Swisher, a baseball player for the Cleveland Indians isn't known so much for being a superstar ball player, but also gets attention for having quite a personality on his Twitter page. His popularity ended up landing him a role in Super Bowl commercial for Mercedes-Benz. This not only increased his own popularity, but also helped raise money for a charity that he supports (Pickering). Fans enjoy being able to easily connect with players through social media like Twitter. This creates a more personal connection to their favorite teams as it makes them feel as if they are truly part of the