Case Study Analysis: Social Benefit or Social Disaster? Read and respond to a case study to demonstrate your understanding of, and ability to apply, the most important concepts of the module, especial

Case Application #1 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/api/v0/books/9780134239828/print?from... 1 of 4 7/6/2018, 10:38 AM Social Benefit or Social Disaster? Tweets. Twittering. Prior to 2006, the only definition we would have known for these words would have involved birds and the sounds they make. Now, practically everyone knows that Twitter is also an online service— with 974 million registered users, 302 million monthly active users, 500 million tweets daily, and 1.6 billion daily search queries—used to trade short messages of 140 characters or less via the Web, cell phones, and other devices. According to its founders (Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams), Twitter is many things: a messaging service, a customerservice tool to reach customers, a real-time search tool, and microblogging. And as the numbers show, it’s become quite popular! The Good and the Bad of TWITTER One place where Twitter has caught on is the sports world, especially in college sports. For instance, Mike Riley, head football coach at the University of Nebraska, uses Twitter to keep fans informed. He understands the power of instant communication. Coach Hugh Freeze of the University of Mississippi was an early adopter of social media to communicate recruitment news. He’s discovered that tweeting is an easy and fun way to communicate quick tidbits of information to fans, alumni boosters, 56 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/api/v0/books/9780134239828/print?from... 2 of 4 7/6/2018, 10:38 AM PRINTED BY: [email protected]. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted. and other interested people who subscribe to Twitter. And it’s a convenient way for the football staff and football recruiting prospects to communicate with each other. There are pretty strict rules the NCAA has about contact allowed between potential recruits and coaches, but NCAA rules do allow unlimited direct messaging. However, coaches still are cautious about committing recruiting violations. So, using Twitter to announce their destinations on the recruiting trail, coaches can indirectly share their recruitment news without naming names. However, many universities and college coaches are monitoring and, in some cases, banning athletes’ use of social media. A potentially precarious issue can arise if an athlete tweets some comment that could put the university in a negative light, offend boosters, or possibly violate an NCAA regulation. Here are a couple of tweeting slip-ups: A Western Kentucky running back was suspended after he tweeted critical comments about the team’s fans; the NCAA pulled 15 football scholarships after an investigation based on a player’s tweet; and a Lehigh University wide receiver was suspended for retweeting a racial slur. We even saw how tweeting backfired at the London Olympics. The first “casualty”—a Greek triple jumper—was banned from the Games over some racially charged tweets. That seems to be good reason for the managers (i.e., coaches and administrators) of these programs to attempt to control the information flow. But is banning the answer? Some analysts say no. They argue that those setting up rules and regulations don’t understand what social media is all about and the value it provides as a marketing and recruiting tool, and they argue that it’s necessary to understand First Amendment rights (part of which includes freedom of speech). Rather than banning the use of social media, many universities are hiring companies to monitor athletes’ posts. This, however, requires athletes to give access to their accounts, which some call an invasion of privacy. But as time goes on, social media conversations are becoming more common and more expected. By the time the Sochi Olympics rolled around, social media had changed the way Olympics news and views were conveyed. 57 58 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/api/v0/books/9780134239828/print?from...