It's not all bad...

I recently had the opportunity to speak to Jared Youngman the Vice President of the Utah Grizzles hockey team about the teams' social media practices. During that conversation I asked him what direction they gave players in regards to social media use.  This isn't a verbatim quote because I was standing on a ladder when he called me and had no way of writing it down but this is what he told me in a nutshell.

We don't necessarily tell them what they can and can't do, but they know that they represent the team and we certainly encourage them to be positive in promoting the team when they can. One of our players is very proactive with his twitter account and will reach out to fans and give out tickets when he can.

When I asked him about steps they take to ensure negative social media use doesn't occur he said;

Other than emphasizing that the players are the face of the franchise and that what they do reflects on the brand, we really don't have to worry too much about that. As a minor league franchise our players don't have millions of people following them on social media. If something bad did happen it wouldn't go viral at the same rate as someone with millions of followers would.

When I think about this conversation I feel like the gotcha culture pushed by thedirty.com and TMZ Sports are ruining sports media consumption. Fans tune in for the scores, and the highlights, and the dirt. Johnny Manziel's antics are bigger stories than anything about athletes who are actually starters and have played in actual professional games. There are likely hundreds of positive athlete stories that could not only help fans relate to athletes but possibly create fans from those who dislike sports for whatever reason. Instead of a story about Adam "Pacman" Jones "making it rain" in a strip club lets focus more on achievements on the field and the positive things many of these guys are doing in the communities they live in.

For instance Hines Ward has created Positive Athlete Pittsburgh Facebook page which highlights the good things athletes are doing, beginning with the little leagues on up to to the professional athletes in the Pittsburgh area. I really like the way Mr. Ward thinks. The more we, as media consumers, focus on the good things athletes are doing and the less we care about their drunken debauchery the more positive role models we see and they get a greater opportunity to influence our kids and grand kids. "

See kids it's cool to (insert good deed here)."
 

@AndyDPhillips kicked a 54 and 52 yard field goal in @Utah_Football scrimmage. Afterwards, he was fixing a flat tire pic.twitter.com/mi2ApEqFjo
— Brandon Scott Barlow (@brandonbarlow64) April 5, 2014