The Positives and Negatives of Twitter: Exploring How Student-Athletes Use Twitter and Respond to Critical Tweets

Abstract

Twitter has become a popular topic in sport communication research. Little research to date, however, has examined Twitter from the perspective of student-athletes. This research explored how student-athletes at an NCAA Division I university used Twitter and reacted to critical tweets from fans. Semistructured interviews with 20 student-athletes were conducted. Analysis revealed that student-athletes used Twitter in 3 primary ways: keeping in contact, communicating with followers, and accessing information. With respect to critical tweets, student-athletes reported various perceptions about them and diverse strategies for responding to them. The results suggest that Twitter is a beneficial communicative tool for student-athletes but also presents challenges, given the ease with which fans attack them via this social-media platform. Accordingly, athletic departments must be proactive in helping student-athletes use Twitter strategically, particularly in responding to detractors.

Permanently Desiring the Temporary? Snapchat, Social Media, and the Shifting Motivations of Sports Fans

“…Given that Twitter is a forum in which many athletes directly interact with fans (Browning & Sanderson, 2012), this is a noteworthy finding, as the primacy of the platform, particularly among younger social media users, seemingly trumps any lack of established structures that would aid the escalation of sport-related interactions.…”

“…Without question, the newest manner for doing so has involved the adoption of social media (Sanderson, 2011). Various forms of social media platforms-whether websites, mobile applications, or various hybrid forms-are used by sports organizations (Sellitto, 2014), college athletes (Browning & Sanderson, 2012), and professional athletes (Lebel & Danylchuk, 2014) in an attempt to raise interactivity levels among sports fans. More recently, a new platform has entered the marketplace: Snapchat, which has risen from a startup in 2011 to being the third most used social media platform among millennials 3 years later (Perez, 2014), with a current valuation estimated to be as high as US$19 billion (Isaac, 2015).…”

Tackling Social Media Abuse? Critically Assessing English Football’s Response to Online Racism

“…Similarly, former Manchester City defender Micah Richards quit Twitter after prolonged racist abuse (Townsend, 2012). Browning and Sanderson (2012) do add that some athletes decide to overtly respond to online abuse. For example, former footballer turned television pundit, Stan Collymore, regularly 'makes a habit of screen-shotting, re-tweeting and reporting racially offensive comments' and has become a role model by continually exposing users guilty of racism (Farrington et al, 2014: 131).…”

“…While social media represents a beneficial communicative tool for athletes it also presents challenges, given the ease with which fans attack them (Browning and Sanderson, 2012;Farrington et al, 2014;Sanderson, 2011). In addition, people in the public eye are common targets for online abuse and this is arguably the price one pays for engaging in media platforms for personal and commercial reasons.…”

“…Therefore, players such as Sinclair feel powerless and have little option than to downplay or accept racist incidents. This feeling is not uncommon as Browning and Sanderson (2012) critically examine student-athlete responses to online abuse, noting that players often ignore or delete critical comments. They highlight the story of a U.S college football player, Ja'Quay Williams, whose 'abuse was so awful that he turned over his Twitter account to a friend, who subsequently censured fans' (Browning and Sanderson, 2012: 506).…”