I have several examples of good vs. bad social media use, both at the collegiate and professional level, that I would like to share here.
Collegiate:
Good- Fundraising. For example, Old Dominion and VCU raising money for cancer research in honor of VCU's late coach Paul Keyes. Here is the example a friend of mine posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Verly32/status/326908759521767424
Bad- A college player I know had a disagreement with an authoritative figure in the athletic department at his school after a tough loss. He proceeded to tweet: "Today's **** you goes out to the Athletic Department for antagonizing their players after a tough loss." That player is no longer on his team, after the head coach caught wind of the tweet.
Professional:
Good- I was offered an opportunity to write for a well-respected baseball publication a few weeks ago. Immediately after receiving the offer, I reached out to my boss in the organization I am working for and asked if there was a policy against this. He informed me that there was, and that due to the proprietary information that is shared on the job, employees of the organization are not allowed to provide input to any other organization, including on any personal social media outlets one may maintain. He thanked me for having the wherewithal to reach out to him before committing to anything and for recognizing the importance of the information.
Bad- I tweeted a while back to a former teammate of mine who is currently in the minor leagues asking if he had any suggestions for an intro song for when I come in to pitch. He responded by providing me a link to a song that he felt would be good. The song had several curses and had a few lyrics that spoke of drug use. A few days later, he was called into his manager's office by a club official and was asked to delete the tweet because of the content of the link. They didn't punish him because they recognized that it was innocent, but warned to be conscious of what he publicly puts out.
Message for players: Before posting anything publicly, please consider this question: "What are the pros and cons of me displaying this content?"
