Twitter and its Place in Professional Sports

Ever since Twitter became a huge social media networks you have seem the controversy between professional athletes and what they "tweet". The NFL was the first league to take action against twitter making a rule that players or coaches were forbid from tweeting during games as well as a certain amount of time before and after the game. Now that I can understand considering that teams want their athletes completely focused when it came to playing in games, but recently some professional sports have gone way overboard with their penalties regarding. Just about a week ago Knicks player J.R. Smith was fined $35,000 for posting what was considered an inappropriate picture of his girlfriend to twitter along with a funny caption to go along with it. While the post might have been stupid and immature of Smith, his twitter belongs to himself and himself only. The NBA needs to stay out of the players personal business regarding twitter as long as it is not violating any rules already made. Major league sports corporations need to keep a positive image of the athletes representing their league, but athletes' social media is for their own personal use and it is up to them to make wise decisions.

The Power of Social Media

With the recent explosion of social media throughout the world, it has become a crucial tool in multiple uprisings of people living in countries with unfair dictatorship. Facebook and twitter have already been accredited as a key part of the overthrowing of corrupt governments in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. Now within the last week the whole Kony campaign has spread in unbelievable speed throughout the country mostly due to Facebook, twitter, and Youtube. It is pretty crazy that in a span of just a few years social media networks have gained enough power to do something as important as help overthrow governments. With the impact social media has already made on the earth who knows how much more it expends in just the next couple years. I believe social media will continue to grow in power and influence as well as expanding profits for the social media companies.

Social Media's Effect on the Future

The youth in our country are obviously loving Facebook as well as all the other social media available, but the question is will our actions taken when we are a teenager affect us down the road. There are always news stories about how someone either didn't get into a college or get a job because of content posted on Facebook. This content can range from inappropriate pictures to racist or tasteless status's. A football player who went to high school by me just recently lost multiple Division 1 scholarships for football due to some of the things he tweeted. I don't think anyone can argue that social media is not a fun and entertaining activity to participate in, but these days with every action made seeming to be public information if needed teenagers have to rethink about what they post before they do. I am not saying that I am above anyone who has a completely flawless Facebook. Although as I get older I realize how harmful social media can be to your future. I don' believe anyone can say that social media is a good or bad thing yet, we will have to wait a couple years to see if it is doing more harm than good.