The article that I chose for this paper is “College Athletes on Social Media: ‘Your Reputation is Always on the Line’” by Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star. I chose this article because it showed how some people who may not normally be famous, college students, become well known if they are college athletes and how they have to be careful with how they interact in life thanks to social media. The article says that while college students are told to be careful because potential employers could see them, for athletes,it’s magnified (Osterman).
The article is about how athletes, and their athletic programs, have a whole new issue when it comes to social media. The article says that social media can be a friend or an enemy of a college athlete (Osterman). One example of it being an enemy was two Indiana athletes who tried to enter a nightclub despite being underage, they were cited, and passersby reported the news. (Osterman).
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The article goes on to illustrate how athletes are being educated about social media, how they should avoid pitfalls of it, and turn it into a positive thing. One school used social media to build up a Heisman Trophy campaign for one of its football players (Osterman). Athletes are also told how they can build up their brands for the future.
I thought it was a very informative article about how schools and athletes are adjusting to the social media world. One thing I would have liked to see is an example of an athlete using it to help someone else, like a charity. But otherwise, I found it interesting that athletes feel even more pressure with social media than regular college students. They lead pressure-packed lives on the field, and having social media critique their every move, even off of it, can be very intense.
- Osterman, Zach, “College Athletes on Social Media: ‘Your Reputation is Always on the Line’” The Indianapolis Star, 26 Feb. 2015, Web. 3 March 2015, http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2015/02/26/college-athletes-continue-face-social-media-perils/24054307/