Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Social Media's Intro Into Basketball
Nowadays social media seems to have an arm in every fragment of the world. People, business, animals and almost anything else you can think of have some sort of account on social media. Well, today I am going to discuss one area of social media in particular and that is basketball. Specifically, the National Basketball Association which is more commonly known as the NBA. For the longest time basketball was just about basketball. Players simply played in their games, went to practices, worked out in their free time and lived moderately quiet lives outside of the arena. Of course, a professional basketball player can never live too quietly, but in comparison to modern times they used to be mice. That is because basketball has fallen subject to the same exact thing that every other thing in this world has. Social media. It seems in today's era of the game the players are never just there to play. They are celebrities in every aspect of their life. On the court they are known for their athletic prowess and overall talent, but off the court they retain millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter and other popular social media platforms. In fact, some players are so popular that they have fan accounts revolving around them that have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of followers. For example, I follow an Instagram account by the name of LeagueFits, which is a subset of SlamOnline, where all of their posts revolve around the outfits of basketball players.
This account in particular has over 300,000 followers while having nothing to do with the game of basketball itself. Also, social media is even extending to the youth of the game. There are high school players that are getting mixtapes which get viewed by millions of people. There is no denying the important role that social media plays in the modern era of basketball. A positive outcome of this is that it allows players to have a platform and a voice that they may not have otherwise. Therefore, I hope social media continues to grow and positively impact the game of basketball.
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I had watched a documentary that was covering this topic. It was on Sports Center and featured some basketball from a couple decades ago discussing how different the game is now compared to when they played. You're right, in every aspect they are celebrities. It does bring positives such as exposure but one point I thought was could this bring more pressure to the players? Now, they're exposure stretches beyond basketball. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael!
ReplyDeleteYou discuss a very interesting theme. That's true that some sports stars start posting a lot of things about their everyday life in Social Media. Some of them got millions of followers. It's cool that you may see how your favorite player lives and what he or she thinks because sometimes it seems that they work 24/7. I am also very inspired by looking at their photos.
I always watch ESPN sportscenter and the daily snapchat so I totally understand you post and am also impressed with all the big player personalities on social media. I think social media helps all sports but more importantly the younger generations that look up to professional athletes and hope to be them one day. I follow so many athletes myself on social media and I really enjoyed reading your post this week.
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