Twitter: What athletes should be aware of

Darron Gibson / Dailymail.Co.Uk

Social networking sites have effectively broken down the barrier between athletes and fans. Many athletes have joined one of the more popular sites, Twitter to keep their fans updated on what they are doing, and to also see what their fans have to say about them. This is a huge privilege and would have seemed unthinkable twenty years ago. While many fans make the best of their interactions with these athletes on Twitter, some take advantage of these privileges and abuse the athletes with hurtful posts directed at them. This abuse may even effect the athletes performance, and athletes should now think twice before deciding to join the social networking revolution.

A perfect example of an athlete that has received abuse on Twitter is young Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson. The midfielder joined Twitter to join his “Twitter Famous” teammates Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, after seeing the success they had on their accounts. Rio Ferdinand gave Gibson a warm welcome to the site, tweeting, "We have a new member from the Man utd crew... @dgibbo28 has joined twitterverse show him some love tweeps!"

His first impression on the site did not go as planned however, and within two hours he had already received a plethora of abusive tweets from United fans. Gibson quickly shut his account down, but the damage had already been done. Some of the tweets that were directed at him include :

“@dgibbo28 the biggest compliment i can give you is that you are better than Carrick”
“@dgibbo28 your performance on saturday was one of the worst I've ever seen of any utd player. scared of the ball much? “
“@dgibbo28 hasn't tweeted yet. Seems somewhat fitting after the countless anonymous performances we've seen from the 'footballer”

After his account was deactivated, fans wanted him to reactivate the account and a #getbackgibbo hashtag started to trend. Gibson refused to comment on the matter, but his reaction was noted on the field. He did not get playing time until two weeks later, in a Champions League semifinal clash against German side Schalke 04. Gibson started the match in the centre of United’s midfield, and the Irishman disappointed greatly. He was subbed at half time and United won the game 4-1.

Gibson ended up making two more appearances that year before he was deemed not good enough to play for the Red Devils. True Manchester United fans were disappointed because the once promising midfielder was now just a wasted talent. The abusive comments aimed at Darron Gibson undoubtedly took a blow at his confidence, and perhaps caused his string of bad performances.

Twitter has the ability to ruin an athlete's career, and Darron Gibson learned the hard way. Athletes should be aware that while Twitter gives fans an opportunity to stay updated on the athlete's life, it can also give fans the opportunity for fans to post abusive comments about them.