Pro's and Con's of Pro's connecting with Joe's

Pro’s and Con’s of Pro’s connecting with Joe’s

By E.J. Merlo

Kansas City, MO- To most fans, the idea of being engaged in or feeling a part of a professional athletes life, would be the most hopeful dream come true. But isn’t that exactly where we are in today’s society? With social media being as big as it is, this doesn’t seem like dream, but rather a reality. Almost just a decade ago athletes were almost impossible to try and connect with. As a fan the only way to see or connect with your favorite athlete(s) was when they were on the field. Fast-forward to now and you have multiple ways to connect to professional athletes all over the world through social media.

           

Not using social media as a professional athlete can have its downfalls. Some players may lose popularity, and favoritism through their fan base because the fan(s) feel as if there is not as strong of a connection that there could be, such as the athlete’s who’s fans can feel connected and follow them and their lives through social media.

This leads to a whole other topic brought on by social media, (THE SELFIE). With social media being so popular the thought of taking a “selfie” with a pro athlete and being able to post it and have the whole world see, fuels the desire for even more of a personal connection to pro athletes. What determines where the line is crossed? Is it with an accepted friend request from your favorite athlete? Is it with the comments you can leave on everything the athlete displays on social media? Or is it when it gets to be a personal encounter with the athlete and you confront them for a picture (selfie)? Just like social media the athlete has the control of how far they are willing take this so called relationship with his or her fans.

Twitter being most common social media used amongst athletes, and most publicized through athletic televised programs such as ESPN, Sports Center, and ESPN2, this is the most popular way to stay on top of what pro athletes are doing with their lives on a daily basis. However, like anyone, the athletes can control how much of their information and life is exposed to the world. Some athletes choose to embrace social media and thrive through the use of it. These athletes who choose to engage in the use of social media may do so for many purposes. Some do so to simply just connect with the fans and gain support. Others use social media strategically to promote personal branding; one of such is former Cincinnati Bengal and New England Patriot’s wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. On www.ibtimes.com Ochocino was said to of used his popularity on twitter to land him a reality T.V. show on VH1. He was then quoted saying “why do I need a podium? I have 3 million followers on twitter. That’s my podium”. Other purposes athletes use social media is to help promote and raise money for their charitable organization they choose to represent.

Regardless of the reasons athletes use social media, they do. The popularity of social media will continue to grow not only with athletes, but their fans as well. Zach Mize from Avila University is one amongst many to take part in the social media frenzy. Zach also chooses to follow not only friends but professional athletes as well. When Zach was asked why he followed certain professional athletes such as Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy, and AJ McCarron, he said, “I follow them in particular because they attended my favorite college, the University of Alabama “.

This just goes to show that social media right now, in its prime, has an impact not only on the greatest of professional athletes, but also on the everyday student and how they connect with those athletes and the rest of the world. So again, is it wishful thinking to be connected to a professional athlete? Or is this the reality of the world we live in, given to us by social media?