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Is it crucial for a player to have social media accounts for recruiters to communicate through and check in on players? A friend's son has no social media account but was told to create one so that coaches/recruiters can check in to see how he is doing and find out where he is playing. Apparently there was a college coach who took interest in his son and talked to his team's head coach. That is when he was advised to create some social media account for people to check in on him.

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Was thinking if we were to do this for my son (2023). He has his own private account on Instagram right now. It is private to his friends and our family. I know that nothing is really "private" thanks to screen shots. So we have already had that conversation about posting stuff. Good thing is that my wife monitors everything he posts.

If we were going to do something to promote baseball i would imagine it would be an account that I would try to control jointly with him. It would be for baseball only. Nothing outside of baseball pictures and videos would be posted on that. 

It was so much easier back in my playing days where when a coach wanted to contact you it was via mail or a phone call. 

If they want to get in touch with you, they will. Whether it is thru DM, text, email, travel coach, carrier pigeon, etc. I'm sure having a twitter or instagram can help but almost all coaches are still recruiting traditionally. It seems kind of silly to make a personal baseball instagram to me but if you want to add some video to your twitter page and have the travel team he's on or whoever share it then go ahead it can only help unless the tweet below it is of him doing a keg stand. 

It's not necessary and most likely nothing will come of it but most of his promotion should be done by others or via email. You don't really want to promote yourself on your own page really. Not a great look. 

ARCEKU21 posted:

Was thinking if we were to do this for my son (2023). He has his own private account on Instagram right now. It is private to his friends and our family. I know that nothing is really "private" thanks to screen shots. So we have already had that conversation about posting stuff. Good thing is that my wife monitors everything he posts.

If we were going to do something to promote baseball i would imagine it would be an account that I would try to control jointly with him. It would be for baseball only. Nothing outside of baseball pictures and videos would be posted on that. 

It was so much easier back in my playing days where when a coach wanted to contact you it was via mail or a phone call. 

Just a warning. Be aware that there is a very good chance that your child has at least 1 secret account that you don’t know about. They are called “Finsta” accounts on Instagram. My 2021 recently educated me on this and says every teen he knows has a secret social media account. This is apparently their attempt at hiding all their inappropriate stuff from adults (ill fated attempt I’m sure). 

As to your initial question, a Twitter and Insta account are a good idea. Travel teams, showcase orgs, and even other players promote players through social media. The players I know do not create a new account for recruiting. Just have him use his regular “clean” account that you have access too and also start a Twitter acct. We did create a recruiting specific email account that incorporated his name. FirstLastBaseball@... I have access to it as well. 

ARCEKU21 posted:

Was thinking if we were to do this for my son (2023). He has his own private account on Instagram right now. It is private to his friends and our family. I know that nothing is really "private" thanks to screen shots. So we have already had that conversation about posting stuff. Good thing is that my wife monitors everything he posts.

If we were going to do something to promote baseball i would imagine it would be an account that I would try to control jointly with him. It would be for baseball only. Nothing outside of baseball pictures and videos would be posted on that. 

It was so much easier back in my playing days where when a coach wanted to contact you it was via mail or a phone call. 

You might want to think through that because coaches now are checking to see if he has another account.  We had several ask my son if he had any multiple accounts.  It could be considered a trust thing.  I would just have him watch what he puts on it.  It is part of the growing up process.  They want you to have multiple social media sites and it was amazing how many followed my son on his social media.  Talking to coaches they learn a lot through a kid's social media interactions that no one will ever tell them.

PABaseball, I would agree and disagree on recruiting traditionally.  The younger RC's are hard and heavy on social media.  just look at theirs or watch them at the showcases.  They also are hard and heavy on following their recruits on social media.  So they see the good and bad.  They understand how to quickly scan through pics and messages.  It amazed me the RC's that commented to my son about things that he put on snapchat or twitter so I know they are watching.  It was also a wake-up call to him that he had to be smart about what he put out there.  I also know several baseball and softball players that lost offers because of things that were put on social media.  Everything from pics to re-tweeting the wrong things or views they posted.

Any athlete needs to have social media. First of all, that way, your fans can follow you. The more followers you have, the more chance you have of being noticed by the coach of a famous team. It would be cool to upload videos of your workouts to social media. You can also be a motivator for aspiring athletes. You need to make quality content to attract new audiences, so I suggest you read https://1394ta.org/blog/instagram-story-ideas/. That way, you'll increase the chances of getting your profile noticed by a famous coach.

Last edited by JArnett
@PABaseball posted:

If they want to get in touch with you, they will. Whether it is thru DM, text, email, travel coach, carrier pigeon, etc. I'm sure having a twitter or instagram can help but almost all coaches are still recruiting traditionally. It seems kind of silly to make a personal baseball instagram to me but if you want to add some video to your twitter page and have the travel team he's on or whoever share it then go ahead it can only help unless the tweet below it is of him doing a keg stand.

It's not necessary and most likely nothing will come of it but most of his promotion should be done by others or via email. You don't really want to promote yourself on your own page really. Not a great look.

100% agree with the bolded above.   Social media is a communication platform.  In today's young culture it has been turned into a "look at me, aren't I wonderful"  platform.  In my mind, the best you can hope for is a neutral impression from someone who is not young and doing the recruiting or making a final decision on a recruit.

Recruiting (like a job) is about demonstrated skills.  Their is only so much "lipstick you can put on the pig" if the recruit lacks the skills necessary, and coaches will tolerate a "look at me" recruit if he has an abundance of skills.  At the end of the day, it is about skills not social media.

As always, JMO.

Many are starting to go into more controlled environment, e.g.  https://sportsthread.com/

Baseball Blue Book has just launched a new social media website.

https://www.baseballbluebook.com/

Feel like there's a ton of these. I think my kids were on sportsrecruits as well. As it stands, none of these niche sites are going to top Twitter and Instagram.

Last edited by nycdad

My son started a Twitter account freshman yr in HS, making periodic posts under the theory that at some point a college coach might in retrospect want to review his progress.  Junior and senior year we put together longer videos that we sent to college coaches and also referred them to Twitter.  He garnered enough interest through this where he received several favorable responses from D1 through D3 coaches.  He accepted a D3 offer from a college that fit him academically.  Many of his peers at similar skill levels who relied on their coaches or even hired representatives for exposure had more disappointing results. 

When relying on coaches the player better know up from the programs reputation for placing players and the contacts the program has.

An advocate is the best course of action. An advocate is typically either a travel coach or an instructor. Sometimes it’s an outsider who takes an interest in the player.

My son sat down with his travel coaches with his list based on perceived baseball and academic skills. His coaches agreed from a baseball perspective. They made contact. The college programs showed to watch him at tournaments and showcases.

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