Is social media a negative form of communication for sports professionals?

A couple of weeks ago, Liverpool player Ryan Babel hit the headlines for complaining that he had been left out of the squad for his team's match against Stoke City on social networking site Twitter. "The Boss left me out," Babel told his Twitter feed, "No explanation." At the start of the season, Sunderland striker Darren Bent also complained on the social networking site about his previous club Tottenham Hotspur. The pair of them were reprimanded for their use of Twitter. Last week, the Manchester Evening News went on to claim that Manchester City and Manchester United had placed a ban on social media, which since has been denied.

On a personal level as a Liverpool FC fan, I believe that it was wrong for Ryan Babel to publicly criticise the club and manager for being left out the squad. The reason for this is that firstly, I believe that he did not do himself any favours by posting his opinions on Twitter. Secondly, it was wrong for him to openly be disrespectful to his employers in the public eye, considering that they are the ones who pay his wages.

However, on the grander scale of it all, websites such as Twitter give millions of sports fans the chance to debate, discuss and interact with their sporting idols every day. If sports clubs were to ban players from using social media, it would put up a brick wall between the two. Social Media is a gateway for sports clubs and professionals to better engage with their supporters, wherever they may be.

A better way to encourage the use of social media such as Twitter, would be to draw up a series strict guidelines, so for example, players cannot talk about internal matters or team selection like Ryan Babel did for instance. As a result, sporting professionals would be able to communicate with their supporters, whilst minimising the risk of sensitive information being leaked.

Is Twitter pointless?

Ricky Gervais has quit Twitter, branding the network site as pointless and the adults that use it as "undignified". Twitter is a free social networking and micro blogging service that allows users to send and receive messages called "tweets". Since its creation in 2006, the website has gained plaudits and popularity worldwide as an information network keeping everyone up to date with what is happening in the world.

The reason for the famous British comedian quitting Twitter is that he just didn’t "get it". He understood it being used as a fun networking device for teenagers, but felt that it was a bit undignified for adults to be using it, in particular celebrities who seem to be showing off using the networking site. He is the latest in a long line of celebrities who have stopped tweeting, including the likes of Miley Cyrus who exclaimed that Twitter should be "banned from the universe".

I do agree to a certain extent with Ricky Gervais that Twitter can be pointless, in terms of people, famous or otherwise posting updates on what they have been doing. I mean who really cares if Jonathan Ross for instance posts a tweet saying that he’s just had breakfast and a cup of coffee, I certainly don’t! However the point that the likes of Ricky Gervais and Miley Cyrus seem to be missing is that Twitter is much more than just that and the networking site can be used in a greater breadth than just tweeting lifestyle updates.

Twitter has actively played a part in campaigning, education, emergencies, politics and many more fields. During the 2008 Mumbai attacks eyewitnesses sent an estimated 80 tweets every 5 seconds. Twitter users on the ground helped compile a list of the dead and injured. Furthermore, users sent out vital information such as emergency phone numbers and locations of hospital needing blood donations. CNN went as far to call this "the day that social media appeared to come of age" since many different groups made significant use of Twitter to gather news and coordinate responses. In June 2009, following allegations of fraud in the Iranian presidential election, protesters used Twitter as a rallying tool and as a method of communication with the outside world after the government blocked several other modes of communication.

These examples show Twitter‘s vital contribution in everyday life, as a vital information networking tool. In Public Relations, Twitter is becoming an ever important communication device for businesses and government to promote their work effectively. Democratic president Barrack Obama effectively used the site for publicity in the 2008 US presidential campaign to his advantage, showing that Twitter is an essential PR tool in reaching a wider audience.

So, is Twitter pointless...no it isn’t!

Public Relations: the good, the bad and the ugly!

I am now a month into studying an MA in Public Relations at De Montfort University and my views on PR have changed significantly. I come from a culture that rubber-stamps family as number one priority and I have one hell of a big family. This meaning that there is a constant flow of relatives visiting my household, where everyone wants to know everyone’s business. Just before I started the course we had a big family get together and when asked "What are you up to these days?" I responded by telling them that I am doing an MA in Public Relations to which I got either one of two reactions. The first being the more often from those who do no have a clue what PR is, usually coming in the form of a bewildered look, a pat on the back, followed by the words "very good", with the family member just happy by the fact that I am doing a masters. Then the second reaction that really put the boot in was "Why on earth are you doing that for?" When I told one of my cousins who is an office manager what course I was about to undertake, his response was "When any PR people walk into my office I chuck them out straight up, they're d*******s full of b******t" leaving me thinking thanks for that vote of confidence! But when I quizzed these family members why they thought what they did, they became stuck for words and it became apparent they too did not have a clear understanding of what PR was. At the time I had a strong sense that going into PR would turn me into somewhat of a conniving individual to put it lightly, considering everyone’s negative portrayal of the industry.

However, once I embarked on the course my perceptions on Public Relations changed dramatically. PR is an industry growing rapidly, which is essential for organisations in managing their reputations. The work carried out by Public Relations practitioners is vital to an organisation’s success in engaging with the public. The industry can support really good causes, people may argue that this is done for a tidy sum of money, but at the end of the day money makes the world go round! One of the biggest things I have learnt from the course is the importance of social media and its necessity in the PR world to channel communications. All in all I believe that Public Relations is a prosperous industry where my future career positively lies!