Following high school athletes on Twitter

[JexFraequin]

I feel like I'm still pretty new to the guidelines regarding social media. Some members of the media in the town I work in follow high school athletes -- football players, volleyball players, soccer players -- on Twitter. Some don't. Everyone has their own reasons. What do you do and why?

 

[JRoyal]

With what kids put up on Twitter, I think you've got to follow them. And I'm not just talking the bad stuff. If a kid you cover is a big recruit and puts his college choice on Twitter, you don't want to find out when the competition re-tweets him.

 

[Mark2010]

Nothing unethical about following them. I wouldn't take anything I read there as gospel. I would always make a phone call, or at least an email, to confirm anything before printing it. People have been known to hack certain accounts and post all sorts of nonsense.

So, yeah, follow along, but take everything with a grain of salt.

 

[JRoyal]

I'd bet more than half the time the "hacking" is someone regretting something they posted themselves. Or they're friends getting their phone and screwing with them.

 

[Bud_Bundy]

With what kids put up on Twitter, I think you've got to follow them. And I'm not just talking the bad stuff. If a kid you cover is a big recruit and puts his college choice on Twitter, you don't want to find out when the competition re-tweets him.

Our top football recruit announced his commitment on Twitter recently ... on a Sunday morning.

 

[joe_schmoe]

Nothing wrong with it. Like already mentioned, be sure it's him/her before you base a story on a tweet though.
Twitter allows accounts to be private, and allows users to block any follower, so if the kid doesn't want you following them, they won't let you. Heck, many athletes love it when sports reporters retweet them or mention their twitter handle.

 

[Justin Biebler]

Agree with it being OK to follow HS athletes. In fact if you're a preps reporter, I'd recommend it. I have gotten story ideas, picture IDs and other info from the athletes and coaches themselves that follow our account and that we follow. Plus lets face it we all know print isn't the in thing with the kiddos and if you do interact with them and get a few interested in our media outlet's product so much the better.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

I'd vote for no following because in most cases you don't have to. Just search for the kid's name or handle if you need something. If they choose to keep stuff private, don't go prying.

 

[Mark2010]

It is a good way to get story ideas, too. Stuff you might never have known and never thought to ask.

Some people post too much info. One person tweeted about his family going on vacation and, sure enough, the house was robbed while they were away. Can't confirm if there was a link or mere coincidence. But, still, too much info in the hands of the wrong people can be disasterous. I would never post that I was interviewing for a new job or anything like that.

Bottom line, you gotta assume anything you post will be read by your worst enemy.

 

[JPsT]

For your sanity, I'd recommend making a list. Call it "Local Preps Athletes" or whatever and put a column in your Twitter client. That way, you still see their post but have it filtered somewhere you don't have to see their 'average teenager' posts every time you check Twitter. You could even make it public and put a widget on your site.

 

[I'll never tell]

I think you're crazy if you don't follow them. I think they get a little bit more of a leash than a college or pro athlete if they say something stupid.

At my old stop, we had a kid Top 5 national running back tweet, "[head coach] ain't (and then a little emoticon of a piece of poop)." I let it go. I knew the staff were going back and forth with him constantly about his attitude, and I didn't really want to get into it. Coach resigned and took a college job a month or two later. I dunno.

What I don't and won't do is accept friend requests from H.S. kids. I don't know if that's right or wrong, to see their life in that context, I'd just rather them not be seeing mine.

 

[SnoopyBoy]

I cover a major pro beat and follow everyone I can on Twitter who's associated with the team, including players' girlfriends and wives. More than once, a significant other has Tweeted something about a roster move before it was announced. The point is, follow anyone associated with your beat.

 

[Flip Wilson]

I cover a major pro beat and follow everyone I can on Twitter who's associated with the team, including players' girlfriends and wives. More than once, a significant other has Tweeted something about a roster move before it was announced. The point is, follow anyone associated with your beat.

That's a great piece of advice that can easily be used outside of sports.

 

[young-gun11]

I follow many of them on my personal twitter and they follow back. It helps gain rapport with them, I think. If they say something on Twitter that I want to retweet from my company account, I simply use TweetDeck and I can do that with two clicks.

 

[mediaguy]

Twitter and Facebook are excellent resources for keeping tabs on prominent high school athletes. Make sure you conduct yourself professionally in any contact through those media -- identify yourself as a media member, be no more casual than you would in any on-the-record interview situation.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

I believe you are playing with a cocked and loaded gun following minors. If you do, keep the focus narrow (one or two bonafide recruits) or very board (dozens), and keep it professional at all times. The last thing you want to do is have even the slightest hint of impropriety. If all you are following is a half dozen volleyball players and tweeting directly to them late at night, whether innocent or not, it doesn't look that way. If you have the appearance of a perv or give some emotional 16-year-old girl the wrong idea, you could find yourself having to answer some uncomfortable questions.

 

[mash4077]

I follow our local high school athletes, but if I reply to anything they post or interact with any of them, it's in relation to their sport, not anything else. Sometimes they'll want info about a story, or a score from a game, or they'll want to find out how to get a photo from the paper. I have athletes who'll DM me scores from their games and some stats (goals/points mainly) if they know them when coaches won't call with that stuff. I'll still verify it by getting in touch with those said coaches, but it's builds rapport and gets younger people into reading our stories. Sometimes what they say about their sport provides a heads-up on possible story ideas or the mood of a team before and after games. I ignore the venting, all the ask.fm links they post and the stuff about their personal lives and don't get messed up in that stuff.

 

[lantaur]

I'd vote for no following because in most cases you don't have to. Just search for the kid's name or handle if you need something. If they choose to keep stuff private, don't go prying.

If they are on a public Twitter account, they are not keeping stuff private.

 

[TopOfTheCircle]

I'd vote for no following because in most cases you don't have to. Just search for the kid's name or handle if you need something. If they choose to keep stuff private, don't go prying.

If they are on a public Twitter account, they are not keeping stuff private.

Hence, the problem. Prep players are minors.

I pretty use my Twitter account only for blog posts, and I've also aggregated Twitter feeds during the Olympics.

I don't mind that people follow me, but I'm not going to reciprocate unless there's a damn good reason.

 

[Mark2010]

What, exactly, is the fascination with Twitter?

Why on earth do people want to go blabbing irrelevant (and sometimes potentially damaging) details of their private lives to the world? I see no attraction in that at all. I can see the use for stuff like posting scores and, as one SportsJournalists.com person pointed out, gathering information you may want for your job. But that can also be done via phone, text, email, whatever, like it has been for years.

For those of you who do use Twitter, what purpose does it serve for you?