Managing your social media accounts requires you to know your audience. Although it may seem like one's online universe is solely made up of "friends," the reality is your social world is far greater than just friends. At any one time, a collegiate athlete can have coaches, athletic administrators, professors, fans, rivals, current and future employers, media outlets and sports organizations monitoring and evaluating your online behavior. Some of these people are judging your future worth by your current behavior. You may appear to be a model student athlete in an interview, but if your online presence dictates a far more irresponsible, loose cannon, your prospects dwindle. No one wants to take a bigger risk than they have to. Don’t give people a reason to pass you over.

The people most closely involved in your success are watching your online behavior. They do this not to chastise but to make sure you remain successful and not cause yourself or their program any undue scandal or embarrassment. That said, becoming a savvy social media user means you are keeping your eyes open to the entirety of your audience, and operating with them in mind.

Once you know who your audience is, you must then know how they are using social media to understand you.

· Future employers evaluate your entire social media history to judge your character and maturity before discussing the potential for employment.

· Professional sports and sponsors review your social media accounts to ensure you are a proper fit for them, specifically your appropriateness with team/sponsor values.

· Fans follow your social media to gain insight into who you are, learn how to be a better player themselves and stay up to date and engaged with their favorite teams and players.

· Media Outlets comb social media for newsworthy headlines. This can be to identify and exploit player problems, fill space on slow news days, and to gain player insight during media blackouts.

· The NCAA may follow up on any social post that may be a compliance concern when brought to their attention.

· Rivals can use social media against you as a distraction or way to create conflict ahead of an upcoming game.

Helpful Tips

· Remove any potentially inappropriate content posted to your account. Ignoring it leaves it up for review with other followers, while lying about it destroys credibility and goes against the ethos of being true to who you are.

· Do not have a private conversation in a public space. A thread can easily veer off course and put you at risk. Arguing with a fan or rival in a thread, for example, may lead you to say something you will regret.