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Athletes are warned against social networking
FOOTBALLERS AND OTHER ATHLETES are being warned against using social networking web sites without first putting on a tin foil hat and checking behind the sofa.
Mick McCarthy, manager of the Wolverhampton Wanderers, has used the pre-season period to tell Sky Sports that he has little time for twits and their tweets.
"If they put a team selection up, which I'm sure some disgruntled numpty will at some stage, they will be in trouble," said cheery McCarthy as he imagined some bad results on the social networking front. "Then I think they can get fined."
McCarthy has hired a law firm to help him work out how to manage the Twitter menace, and apparently will stop short of actually banning its use. However, judging by his language it's apparent that he has a strong dislike for Twitter and its occasionally malicious use.
"Players are going to get themselves into trouble over Twitter, I can tell. I can't ban it and I'm not going to try," he added. "But they have to be careful what they say on it about the club and its policies."
McCarthy has a beef with Twitter because last season an inappropriate message caused a transfer deal to collapse. His peer, Sir Alec Ferguson is equally displeased with the micro-blogging method and its messages, and was thought to have been annoyed with one of his players, Wayne Rooney, who appeared to challenge a fan to a fight through it.
"I will put u asleep within 10 seconds," he tweeted, in a possible reference to his autobiography being released on audiobook.
Olympic athlete Geoff Huegill has also warned sportspeople against going too far with social networks, particularly in the run up to next year's competition.
The Australian swimmer wrote a column this weekend in which he warned that saying too much, poking too often and whatever else people do on these networks could be very damaging to careers.
"Forget drugs in sport, and even match-fixing, social media has the potential to ruin an athlete's career and tarnish a country's reputation," he said according to a report at Reuters.
"We are all aware of the risks that can destroy an athlete's reputation in the blink of an eye from the moment they press that send button. It can start out as simply venting frustration, but all of a sudden can snowball out of control and prompt a media frenzy." µ
Tags: Internet
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I hope all sportspeople are now getting together and agreeing to twitter once an hour at least for the rest of the year.
I swear that if the sun in the sky was just newly introduced some management idiots would complain it's inconveniencing their shady deals by them needing to find dark corners, and how it encouraged people to be happier and that resulting in reduced compliance while abusing them.
... in mouth.
He was at fault for being immature and shooting his mouth off.
Shoot it off enough and someone will shoot it right back.
The problem isn't social media sites like Twitter; the problem is the lack of training and education provided to the players and/or organizations to properly understand how the social sites work.
Social media can be an extreme benefit and especially for the fans of these teams, brings additional value and another incentive to follow their favorite players all season long. This ultimately leads to added exposure and ticket/stadium revenues.
I can't imagine why anyone at that level would be bothering with twitter.