Friday, February 24, 2012
Publicity
I find the amount of publicity social media offers individuals fascinating. Any name has the ability to become a well-known name if the right (or wrong) posts are made to a social media site. People become internet sensations through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. These sites also help promote events, up and coming stars, businesses, and more. Recently, New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin went from being a no-name bench player to the next big thing. He had a breakout game against the New Jersey Nets and "Linsanity" began to sweep the world. Social media has played a huge role in this because of the amount of people posting and Tweeting about Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks. Pictures of Lin have been all over Facebook, so more and more people know what he looks like, what team he plays for, and what he has been doing to opposing team. On the other hand, social media sites have the ability to wreck an individual’s image. During the Penn State scandal, social media escalated the events taking place when people voiced their opinions. Some of these posts were harsh and not true. All the negative publicity about Penn State gave it a bad image, causing them to lose recruits, money, and fans.
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I like a lot of things you say in this article. Being a die hard NY Knicks fan myself I have definitely seen how social media has made Jeremy Lin an instant celebrity in less than a week. In that sense I like the effect social media has on athletes yet I also agree that it can just as easily crush a player or coaches' legacy. The way Joe Paterno was portrayed in the media up until his death was terrible and harshly cruel toward him.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that social media has a big impact on the sporting world, but these views come from ESPN. ESPN has pushed Jeremy Lin huge over these past 2 weeks and that caused his popularity more than anything else. The same is true with Joepa. His side really was not portrayed on ESPN, they just talked about all the negative things that happend to him and kids just copy pasted that.
ReplyDeleteGreat connections between Jeremy Lin and the Penn State scandal. I liked how you described the negative and positive impact social media can have on people and how small news can turn into worldwide news through social media.
ReplyDeleteI like how you not only show the positive aspects but as well the negative impacts. The problem with social media is that it spreads like wild fire and that we have to watch what we say because many people read them and can take it differently. For example, the ESPN writer who tweeted about Lin saying, "Some lucky lady will get a few inches of pain tonight". Right there, the guy may have thought he was being funny but in the end his job was on the line and is possibly fired now. Everyone thought it was racist and not funny. This is just another reason how social media can ruin someones reputation.
ReplyDeleteI agree that social media had created a completely new world when it comes to events, the next big sensation, and pop stars. Images can be made or broken via the internet now. However what if there was no Facebook, twitter, etc? How would we be a different society today if there were no social media forms online? I think that there would not be nearly as many internet sensations/ pop up idols coming out of nowhere. There would not be nearly as much recognition/ spot light for the people who have talent that come from no where and finally get recognized.
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