When you think about the issue at hand, ‘should professional footballers use social networks?’, its pretty ridiculous. Ten years ago this was a non-issue, people actually held conversations in person or by telephone. Now, its broadcast on the internet for all to see. The 21st Century brings with it 21st Century problems and this is certainly a 21st Century problem. On the outside it may look as simple as a sportsman getting closer to the fans that, in a roundabout way, pay his wages. But in reality it’s about young males, doing young male things in an extremely public forum.
This week, the Ashley Cole saga has brought the topic into the public forum once again. After the FA referred to Ashley Cole’s testimony in the John Terry case as less than honest, Cole responded by brandishing the FA ‘a bunch of t***s’ to all of his near 500,000 followers. Not a smart move on the best of days, never mind on the eve of his 99th and 100th England cap. To his credit, he has apologised for the outburst and accepted his charge of improper conduct. But you can’t help thinking this could have been avoided.
Cole is not the first player to get in trouble for comments made on the social networking site. Manchester United duo Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand have both been in trouble in 2012 for comments made on their twitter feed. Last year saw Ryan Babel and Carlton Cole face the wrath of the footballing authorities. The growing increase of troublesome tweets has seen the FA announce the release a new code of conduct which will include sections on social networking. This will include the ‘recommendation’ that all England Internationals should consult an FA media rep before posting a tweet. Doesn’t that defeat the point of having a social networking profile in the first place?
Any celebrity or known person is running a risk by using social media. Any little play on words can be twisted against the tweeter to make it look like the tweets are about something else. There is no context to the words, they are simply words, with no trace of anger, sarcasm, humour, laughter or tears. For the regular individual, social media is a good way of meeting people who share similar interests on an informal forum. But to the celebrity, it’s a potential minefield waiting to happen, especially if you are a mega-rich, not very bright, professional footballer. This brings us back to the original question, should they be using social networks?
In my opinion, no they shouldn’t. Whilst I more than understand the benefits of social networking when it is used correctly, a lot of footballers just can’t be trusted to act like responsible adults in a public forum. Like it or not, these men are both representatives of their clubs and role models to thousands of children. It not a surprise that news channels like Sky Sports News track players twitter accounts. It’s because they are expecting news to be made by the sportsmen and women who use the sites. Footballers more than any other sport are focused upon because it’s the most popular sport in the UK and the top players are followed by hundred’s of thousands, even millions of fans. When they live their life in such a goldfish bowl, its inevitable bad things will happen and continue to happen until players wake up and see its just not worth it.