Social media. We all have it, and if you don’t, you likely know what is constantly happening on Instagram or twitter from different news and conversations that you hear. Social media has completely transformed the world of athletics. With so many athletes having a presence on different social media platforms, a new sense of community building has arisen between athletes and their fans.
Fans are able to follow their favorite athletes to stay up to date on not only what is going on in their professional life but their personal life too. Tim Tebow (on of my all time football favs) has been able to use twitter as a medium to connect with his fans and build a successful foundation. The Tim Tebow foundation has taken off due to his drive to help others but also because of the relationships he was able to form with people outside of the sports world on social media.
Not only are the connections he made with fans on social media allowing for the successes of his foundation, but the subscriptions and donations that fans take part in have also advanced his foundation. Tim Tebow is able to use twitter as a platform to serve as a personal role model rather than simply an athletic role model.
The photo you see on the right, Tim Tebow posted on his twitter in a tweet about his foundation. His publicity on social media allows his foundation to reach fans who are eager to connect with him as more than just an athletic role model. Hundreds of people are able to view and respond to the tweet which allows for a more personalized relationship that is otherwise not possible. Relationship and community building as a result of social media has been an asset for Tim Tebow as well as athletes across the country.
Though it is easy for us to see all of the wonderful attributes social media provides for athletes in accordance with connecting with fans, the issues that come along with social media often go unnoticed. In an article published by Bleacher Report, they address the positives and negatives that come with athletes being present on social media. In a positive light, social media allow fans to personally connect with athletes. This not only benefits the fans but the athletes too, as we have seen in Tim Tebow’s case. Social media humanizes athletes who, without, we would only see them as sitting on a pedestal.
Connecting with athletes…who doesn’t love that?? It gives fans a sense of companionship to people they could otherwise not reach, but often times fans fail to recognize how these athletes are negatively affected by their social media presence. An article posted by Psychology Today addresses how the media can hurt an athlete.
Fans can use their monitor as a screen to cover up who they are so they are more confident in posting hurtful comments. When fans target athletes with controversial comments, it often results in the spiral of silence to where minority opinions are lost. As a result, athletes cannot always notice the support of other fans behind them. In 2013, an Alabama football kicker was targeted on twitter with death threats because fans believed he was the reason the team lost the game. All of these hateful comments silenced those who supported him, leaving the kicker feeling blamed for the loss and hated. When fans have such easy access to communicate with athletes, it is crucial they consider other people’s feelings before posting.
Not only can a fan’s usage of social media to connect with athletes hurt the player, but players can hurt their own reputation by their own posts as well. Stay tuned for more on how an athlete can ruin their own reputation on social media in the later weeks!
Sources:
Media and Sports 
Great post, I enjoyed reading. The only constructive criticism I have is, change one of the pictures so the same Tim Tebow picture isn’t your header and in the blog post. As a reader that enjoys pictures I think changing one of them can help keep interest.
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Great post! You may want to re-revise is a little. Your links to the articles referred to were great, and the picture you included showing the negative feedback from viewers and fans allowed by social media was a great idea. I also like that you gave the reader an ability to relate to the post from the very beginning.
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I agree with your post regarding the idea that social media allows sport fans to connect with the favorite athletes. I would also like to add that social media gives fans a sense of a personal relationship with famous athletes because the athlete’s Instagram or Twitter pages gives fans an inside access to their life. I also agree with your writing about how social media sometimes being a negative thing, like death threats to Cade Foster of Alabama. Being a kicker myself and knowing other college kickers around the country, I have seen how upsetting fans can get on social media over missed kicks, which only adds to the disappointment of the kicker who misses. There are several minor spelling errors and grammatical errors that you may want to review.
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