@the beginning, w/Myspace, and all the way_to #49erNow w/Instagram & Snapchat, social.media has taken over.
Fieldhouse Media Group conducted its third social media study for college athletes in 2015. The study found that 73 percent have a Twitter, 94 percent have a Facebook, 81 percent have an Instagram and 89 percent have Snapchat.
Roger Kirk, assistant athletic director for media relations, said that Long Beach State doesn’t have strict policies for athletes when it comes to social media.
“The main thing we tell our student athletes is anything they put on social media is public,” Kirk said. “If it’s something you wouldn’t want someone to hear, don’t put it on Twitter, don’t put it on Facebook.”
The National Collegiate Athlete Association has general policies when it comes to student athletes and what they can or cannot post on social media. The most common policy is that students are not allowed to post anything that may be construed as an endorsement to a specific company or brand on social media.
LBSU sophomore softball infielder Lauren Lombardi said that she uses social media to stay up to date with friends and family she does not get to see on a daily basis.
“I’m always careful,” Lombardi said. “I don’t use foul language. If I can’t let my parents see it, [then] I don’t want it on social media.”
Instagram and Twitter are Lombardi’s favorite social media sites. Fieldhouse Media Group found that so far in 2015, Instagram has been the highest used social media network among the athletes at 33 percent, with Facebook coming in second at 29 percent.
Kirk said LBSU has not had to deal with many social media problems with the athletes, but that the punishment for violating rules for each sport varies depending on the amount of exposure.
“As long as you self report [the incident] right away, it usually isn’t an issue,” Kirk said. “Within the sports, some sports might do an ESPN style Twitter suspension, other sports might just say, ‘Hey, knock it off.’”
For many college athletes, social media can be a place for both praise and hateful comments. Kirk said the men’s basketball team deals with the highest level of scrutiny due to the regular broadcast of its games and high media exposure.
“Men’s basketball deals with [trash talking] the most,” Kirk said. “To be honest, it’s usually not very funny or clever. [People say] ‘Mike Caffey you suck,’ and things like that. Most of the time, it is usually positive stuff.”