Mike Preston: Social media has changed the narrative for NFL players, and it is not good

[HOUSE]

 

Mike Preston, The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — National Football League head coaches are spending as much time monitoring their players on social media as they are drawing up and installing plays.

That’s because we are in the “Me Generation” of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Hey, look at my new car, new house or new cellphone. That’s me with my dog Butkus, or here I am drinking a cup of coffee. Oh, there I am in front of the new beach house.

Look at me. It’s always about me, me, me …

 

https://buffalonews.com/sports/football/mike-preston-social-media-has-changed-the-narrative-for-nfl-players-and-it-is-not/article_20d61fed-ee4e-545a-8ed4-26a219d4e2dd.html

[Coach Tuesday]

Sports is just a microcosm of society, in that and every other respect.  Social media is a NET NEGATIVE for humanity.

[HOUSE]

Here's my new car

 

 

 

[DJB]

 

16 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Here's my new car

 

 

 

 

I found the Jets car

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by DJB

[BarleyNY]

Mike Preston has been hated by Baltimore fans for as long as I can remember.  This article is a good example of why.  It was really nothing but bitching and whining on behalf of himself and NFL teams.  The NFL is happy to take advantage of social media, the internet and other modern tech when it suits them so they aren’t getting any sympathy from me if there’s a downside too.  Ditto Preston.  He ***** about players trying to use social media to get better contracts, but ignores the fact that owners can make billions of dollars over the course of owning a team.  So they have to manage some social media stuff from players in the process?  Boo hoo.  It’s part of the package these days.  If they don’t want to deal with that stuff they can do something else in a less public industry. 

[H2o]

The concept of social media, being able to keep in touch with people you don't see often or if at all in person, was a good thought and not a flawed way of thinking. The problem is the flawed people, what it has become, and what it is used for now. You have a bunch of people recording basically every bowel movement on their preferred platforms and people who follow it like it truly matters. Then you have the internet gangstas who use it as an avenue to say all kinds of things they wouldn't have the gall to say in person because they likely won't ever see the person in real life, but know it would end up in them getting their *ss beat if they did. Then you have the people who use it to prey on others in various forms with too many examples or categories to list them all. For what it was meant to be in the beginning, it has almost become the bane of our existence.

[HOUSE]

Social Media probably cost Richie Incognitio & Antonio Brown millions...

[GunnerBill]

Social media gives everyone a voice. Some people have good judgment on how and when to use their voice. Some people don't. In the NFL it has given players a much more accessible public platform where what they say isn't filtered. They are using it to exert pressure, create leverage and ultimately get their way. 

 

[BillsShredder83]

41 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

 

Mike Preston, The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — National Football League head coaches are spending as much time monitoring their players on social media as they are drawing up and installing plays.

That’s because we are in the “Me Generation” of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Hey, look at my new car, new house or new cellphone. That’s me with my dog Butkus, or here I am drinking a cup of coffee. Oh, there I am in front of the new beach house.

Look at me. It’s always about me, me, me …

 

https://buffalonews.com/sports/football/mike-preston-social-media-has-changed-the-narrative-for-nfl-players-and-it-is-not/article_20d61fed-ee4e-545a-8ed4-26a219d4e2dd.html

The irony of the reporter crying about controlling the narrative, and then doing the same thing in this "article" is not lost on me.

[Doc]

Social media has been a scourge on humanity.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Doc

[Hapless Bills Fan]

27 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Sports is just a microcosm of society, in that and every other respect.  Social media is a NET NEGATIVE for humanity.

 

I can't disagree with you on the "net negative".  You can have some dude with a theory and he gets equal time/equal platform with a dude who spent his life studying the subject and knows a thing.  Misinformation spreads easily.  It's a substitute And, it's a beautiful platform for predators to find prey

I do think the reporter's analysis in the OP link is shallow.  For example, he says:

Quote

In the case of Orando Brown Jr., Ravens executives Eric DeCosta and Ozzie Newsome are common-sense guys. If he had just gone to them and asked for permission to seek a trade they probably would have granted him permission, especially after how well Brown played last season.

How does he know that Brown didn't go to them and seek permission to look for a trade and was told "you're our franchise RT and we depend on you as our backup LT, No Way"?  He doesn't, he's assuming.

 

[Punching Bag]

Just now, Doc said:

Social media has been scourge on humanity.

 

"Scourge" is a good name for new social media platform because bitchfest has bad connotations. 

[Billschinatown]

31 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Social Media probably cost Richie Incognitio & Antonio Brown millions...

Richie being off his meds was probably worse for his career than social media. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 minutes ago, Billschinatown said:

Richie being off his meds was probably worse for his career than social media. 

 

*BING*. 

 

Didn't he admit that during his final year with the Bills, he was off his meds, using recreational drugs, showing up for meetings high, and his level of play had fallen off (hence being asked to renegotiate)?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

33 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Social media gives everyone a voice. Some people have good judgment on how and when to use their voice. Some people don't. In the NFL it has given players a much more accessible public platform where what they say isn't filtered. They are using it to exert pressure, create leverage and ultimately get their way.

 

It's def. a double-edged sword.  As you say, it gives them a platform.  Some of them use it to "build a brand" and get marketing opportunities - Dion Dawkins with his "shnow" product line, Jon Feliciano, Stefon Diggs.  Some of them use it to make connections - Poyer found someone to teach him snowboarding and take him fishing.

 

For that to work, you have to post enough personal stuff to gather a following, which is where the double-edged sword of opening yourself to fan negativity as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[C.Biscuit97]

Agree. I wish they could follow the lead of politicians and just avoid social media. 

32 minutes ago, Doc said:

Social media has been a scourge on humanity.

To a point. There is also a lot that is awesome about it. It’s all on how the person chooses to use it. 

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

Here's my new car

 

 

 

Listen bro. I was nice enough to let you borrow it for your date but you have to return it. 

[Coach Tuesday]

3 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Agree. I wish they could follow the lead of politicians and just avoid social media. 

To a point. There is also a lot that is awesome about it. It’s all on how the person chooses to use it. 

Listen bro. I was nice enough to let you borrow it for your date but you have to return it. 

Do you have kids?  Social media is terrifying.  They spend their time on it (or their friends do) at a young age, and internalize the “like/dislike” dynamic, plus one mistake they make will follow them around for life potentially.  It’s horrible.  (And my parents’ generation is worse!  Baby Boomers on Facebook is possibly the worst thing that has happened in this century.  They fill their time with Facebook-surfing for cat videos, conspiracy theories, stupid memes and lame jokes, hokey sayings of encouragement, pictures of their new kitchens, etc.  THE WORST.)

[C.Biscuit97]

2 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Do you have kids?  Social media is terrifying.  They spend their time on it (or their friends do) at a young age, and internalize the “like/dislike” dynamic, plus one mistake they make will follow them around for life potentially.  It’s horrible.  (And my parents’ generation is worse!  Baby Boomers on Facebook is possibly the worst thing that has happened in this century.  They fill their time with Facebook-surfing for cat videos, conspiracy theories, stupid memes and lame jokes, hokey sayings of encouragement, pictures of their new kitchens, etc.  THE WORST.)

Oh for sure. There are a lot of adults like that too. But that’s kinda on the parents too. 

[GunnerBill]

11 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I can't disagree with you on the "net negative".  You can have some dude with a theory and he gets equal time/equal platform with a dude who spent his life studying the subject and knows a thing.  Misinformation spreads easily.  It's a substitute And, it's a beautiful platform for predators to find prey

 

 

When I trained and briefly worked as a journalist it was drummed into you that you were enormously privileged to have a platform and that brought with it a great weight of responsibility to use that platform as a force for good. To seek out and report truth. Now people can think what they want about how well some journalists practiced that and whether the mainstream media sowed the seeds of its own demise and to some extent I'd likely agree. But the man who knows nothing now has a platform where there is no responsibility and where he can freely disseminate crackpot theory and deliberate misinformation and then defend it by saying "yea but free speech.

[Don Otreply]

Social media is proof most people are really and truly stupid.

[Doc]

1 hour ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

To a point. There is also a lot that is awesome about it. It’s all on how the person chooses to use it.

 

The bad far outweighs the good.

[Punching Bag]

1 hour ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Do you have kids?  Social media is terrifying.  They spend their time on it (or their friends do) at a young age, and internalize the “like/dislike” dynamic, plus one mistake they make will follow them around for life potentially.  It’s horrible.  (And my parents’ generation is worse!  Baby Boomers on Facebook is possibly the worst thing that has happened in this century.  They fill their time with Facebook-surfing for cat videos, conspiracy theories, stupid memes and lame jokes, hokey sayings of encouragement, pictures of their new kitchens, etc.  THE WORST.)

 

It happened to Josh Allen because he posted something which was fine in his circle but someone doing research looked far in past and brought it up for clicks/eyes or to try to manipulate draft status which Pegulas looked at and said not an issue as long as he addressed it. 

 

There was a player with a bong mask which was very affected in draft.

 

Companies working in federal government area do a deep dive looking at social media on candidates.  One had a good interview and then results came back and he was not considered.  The company had a policy on not saying why a candidate was not hired and just said he was not in pool when he asked.  I was interviewer and he got my extension from from desk and asked why he is not receiving consideration (careful wording on his part) and I told him I am not on the hiring sign list but my advice when he was searching for work to extremely limit your social media presence including comments to things you post. He said "S***! My brother was joking about that party." and I replied "I do not know what was reason for you not being picked for next interview for I do not see other interview score sheets but this industry tends to be conservative."

[teef]

people should just do what i do, and only use social media to post shirtless pictures of themselves.  

[Punching Bag]

7 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

The bad far outweighs the good.

 

One "I am sorry" is not worth 20 comments saying "Good job on that".

[Billschinatown]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

*BING*. 

 

Didn't he admit that during his final year with the Bills, he was off his meds, using recreational drugs, showing up for meetings high, and his level of play had fallen off (hence being asked to renegotiate)?

Take Meds --> get healthy/improve lifestyle --> feel so good you get off pills --> get sick again --> take meds (repeat)

 

It's  a lousy unfair cycle for those affected. 

[C.Biscuit97]

2 hours ago, teef said:

people should just do what i do, and only use social media to post shirtless pictures of themselves.  

I like posting pictures of me working out; handing money to homeless people; and posing with a fish or animal I killed. I get so many likes. 

2 hours ago, Doc said:

 

The bad far outweighs the good.

Sounds like someone hasn’t slide in any DMs. 😉

[nucci]

2 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Social media is proof most people are really and truly stupid.

 

[junior]

Yawn

[billsfan89]

The article is basically an old man yelling at a cloud type stuff. Yes social media is yet another pitfall for players to fall into. But social media also gives players a platform and a voice that can be used positively to interact with fans or get around bad media spin. It also allows the players to showcase their personality directly. It also allows players to shape their own narrative and not be bullied by the organization. 

 

The NFL has incorporated social media literacy and how to use social media responsibly as a public figure into the rookie transition program. So these players are made aware of how to use it. I think teams even offer their marketing agencies to run their accounts if they want to. If teams have to hire a few entry level staff to monitor their players social media so be it. But overall things aren't that bad as this article makes it seem.

[teef]

21 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

I like posting pictures of me working out; handing money to homeless people; and posing with a fish or animal I killed. I get so many likes. 

 

if you include food that you are currently cooking or eating,  i think you will have covered the spectrum.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, teef said:

if you include food that you are currently cooking or eating,  i think you will have covered the spectrum.

 

You left out: playing with your kids, golfing, traveling somewhere in a vehicle (plane, truck), and drinking some beverage with the name of its source showing

[The 9 Isles]

5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

Social media gives everyone a voice. Some people have good judgment on how and when to use their voice. Some people don't. In the NFL it has given players a much more accessible public platform where what they say isn't filtered. They are using it to exert pressure, create leverage and ultimately get their way. 

 

That would be true if not for the tech companies running them and manipulating algorithms to keep people angry and thus more engaged for profit. 

[appoo]

It's amazing how much people in power whine and cry when they lose the ability to control every aspect of the humans they have in their power.

 

This isn't about social media. This is about men in power who no choice but respect the freedom of voice of their employees - something they NEVER had to worry about. Suddenly, fearing public opinion for your actions, is a real thing.

 

In general, those organizations that generally allow their people to freely express themselves, are thriving today.

 

The NBA took an early stance that their players are their own real people, with their own voices, which they are free to express. The NFL was all about "Protect the Shield", and now you have BS like this being leaked to the media, along with a league that's badly struggling with it's image, and is often at war with it's own players.

 

That's no random nor coincidental.

3 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

It happened to Josh Allen because he posted something which was fine in his circle but someone doing research looked far in past and brought it up for clicks/eyes or to try to manipulate draft status which Pegulas looked at and said not an issue as long as he addressed it. 

 

There was a player with a bong mask which was very affected in draft.

 

Companies working in federal government area do a deep dive looking at social media on candidates.  One had a good interview and then results came back and he was not considered.  The company had a policy on not saying why a candidate was not hired and just said he was not in pool when he asked.  I was interviewer and he got my extension from from desk and asked why he is not receiving consideration (careful wording on his part) and I told him I am not on the hiring sign list but my advice when he was searching for work to extremely limit your social media presence including comments to things you post. He said "S***! My brother was joking about that party." and I replied "I do not know what was reason for you not being picked for next interview for I do not see other interview score sheets but this industry tends to be conservative."

 

That unfortunately one of the consequences of peeling back the lid, and letting people have their expression of voice and culture.

 

It's bad that those kids lost out on opportunities, that they got scalded, but I hope to see is those people who refuse to hire someone because of a freakin party picture, loosen the hell up...that's the evolution I want to see. Yes kids are gonna be kids, people are gonna say dumb things, gonna say bad things fueled by ignorance...I wish all those things were viewed as inconsequential or as teaching moments. Not things that should forever brand someone.

 

But also, that's real life, and it shouldn't be hidden away, and we shouldn't be afraid of it.

[hjnick]

I think all this 'privileged' people's whining is going to force a change in contracts that they sign.

 

I think a number of teams wouldn't mind getting rid of some of their high cost talent.  The only real problem they have is the cap hit they would need to take to jettison them from the team.  So teams are going to start putting wording into contracts where if you request a trade, you will need to give back some guaranteed money, which will lessen the cap hit, so those players can get moved easier because the big hits come from the guaranteed money you gave them up front.

 

If a player wants a new view or a change of scenery, pay for it.

[appoo]

2 minutes ago, hjnick said:

I think all this 'privileged' people's whining is going to force a change in contracts that they sign.

 

I think a number of teams wouldn't mind getting rid of some of their high cost talent.  The only real problem they have is the cap hit they would need to take to jettison them from the team.  So teams are going to start putting wording into contracts where if you request a trade, you will need to give back some guaranteed money, which will lessen the cap hit, so those players can get moved easier because the big hits come from the guaranteed money you gave them up front.

 

If a player wants a new view or a change of scenery, pay for it.

It's the players who are privelages and not the super rich owners?

[Doc]

55 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Sounds like someone hasn’t slide in any DMs. 😉

 

No need.  I'm married.

[GunnerBill]

23 minutes ago, The 9 Isles said:

That would be true if not for the tech companies running them and manipulating algorithms to keep people angry and thus more engaged for profit. 

 

Oh I agree. There is an element of the puppet master and the puppet. 

[hjnick]

7 minutes ago, appoo said:

It's the players who are privelages and not the super rich owners?

Well, considering the whole topic is on players social media...

 

We are discussing players that make millions of dollars a year to play a game.  Yeah, I guess that would be the definition of privileged. I wish I was that privileged.

 

 

[appoo]

Oh and an aspect about NFL players that should be discussed here - contracts aren't guaranteed.  So that means a club can cut a player's ass whenever they want, and all they'd owe them is the money they already gave them, and whatever % of guaranteed money is left over - for which most NFL contracts isn't a huge amount.

 

I'm not a huge fan of what DeShaun Watson is doing, but I'm not without sympathy either. If teams can walk away from players with a click of a button, while players have to launch an entire media campaign over the course of months, to be able to switch teams, that's inherently unbalanced.

 

There's inequity, and when thaythappens, there's ALWAYS going to be a power struggle, and it's going to be the less powerful trying to gain more power. Right now, the best tool players have to level that playing field, is through social media, because they can galvanize support around them.

 

Right or wrong.

[appoo]

Here's a radical idea, allow players to walk out of a contract as easily as teams can cut players.

 

Pay back 50% of your signing bonus, nullify all future guaranteed money, and you can walk.

 

That would resolve a lot of the whining about social media.