The age of social media and sports

Zack Ryder / thatguygil - Flickr

Social media helps athletes in a number of ways. Many athletes use it to attract attention, get news, and stay connected with people.

The WWE rewards wrestlers who build up a fan base on social media. One instance of this is Zack Ryder’s recent climb in the business. Ryder began making Youtube videos that many fans enjoyed. His Youtube fame got to the point where fans would hold up signs for him in live events that he wasn’t a part of. This persuaded the WWE to put him in more matches and when it came to their annual Slammy Awards event a few months later, Ryder won the Trending Star of the Year.

Professional athletes are often on the road which causes some athletes to feel lonely. “It’s good to stay in touch with friends, family, and fans,” said Aaron Brown, a sophomore shooting guard at Temple University, to SLAM. Social media is an easy way for athletes to stay connected to these various people.

Social media already has the capability of spreading news faster than newspapers. In fact, Twitter can now boast how it alerts athletes faster than their agents on topics as big as a trade. Craig Breslow, now a pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks, tweeted, “I can no longer denounce the relevance of Twitter. It broke the story of my trade ... to me.”

Social media is an athletes stage for a different type of preformance and it effects them in many ways. Many athletes are targeted as prey through social media, but as Howard Ferguson (1990) wrote in his book The Edge, “Mediocre people play it safe and avoid criticism at all costs. Champions risk criticism every time they perform.”