A Rebuttal to USA TODAY’s Christine Brennan
I’ve always highly respected Christine Brennan. She’s rightfully won a handful of journalism awards while paving the way for women in the industry. But a piece she wrote this week titled “Too Much Made of Twitter Rants on Athletes” badly missed the mark about sports social media trolls. Fieldhouse Media founder Kevin DeShazo already wrote a solid response, but I can’t help feeling the need to share some thoughts as well.
Brennan argues that we should essentially just ignore trolls who attack athletes on Twitter. Since most of them have small followings, it’s not like many people are
seeing their venom. She then quotes Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture at Syracuse University, who says, “What amazes me is how much attention the professional journalistic establishment pays to a lot of this stuff … Twitter is being covered now as though it’s the most important thing in the world.”
As Twitter-obsessed as I am, I do agree many of us heavy users are often guilty of exaggerating its significance. It’s always important to remember the majority of America still doesn’t use Twitter – including Thompson. Well, he may look at it, but he doesn’t have an active account. So while he’s right to ask us to keep Twitter’s importance in perspective, I’m not sure a man who doesn’t actively use the service is the best voice to use as the sole quote in Brennan’s piece. To me, Thompson and Brennan (who does have an active Twitter account) are guilty of putting their heads in the sand.
First of all, while Thompson sloughs off Twitter, I’d hope one of the most highly regarded pop culture professors in the world is aware that ESPN and Yahoo just locked in new partnerships with the social media giant. I’m guessing Thompson also knows that much of the talk at this week’s TV Upfronts involved Twitter’s expanding role on our television sets. Sure, Thompson’s somewhat accurate when he says a Twitter story in the news isn’t “what everybody’s thinking … It’s what people who are tweeting are thinking,” but I’d hate to bet against Twitter further ingraining itself in our culture.
Brennan, meanwhile, makes a good point that when the media covers sports social media trolls, all that really does is give them the attention they so desire. But she also misses this point – while many don’t see what the trolls spew, there are people on the other side of the messages that are well aware of what’s being written. Believe it or not, most athletes do check their Twitter mentions. So unless we think all athletes are cold, money-hungry, emotionless robots, I’m not sure the solution is for the rest of us to turn away from this kind of online abuse.
An Example
With his hot streak in the NBA Playoffs, Spiracle Media client Stephen Curry continued to inch closer to superstardom. But with that, came the other side. While his postseason play helped him eclipse a combined one-million followers on Twitter and Facebook, all the attention he received was like honey to the always-starving trolls. So while Curry’s popularity grew worldwide, some “fans” weren’t all that concerned about his oft-injured ankles.
@StephenCurry30 hope you shatter your ankle
— Carson Embry (@Coach_Embry88) May 15, 2013
Of course, the example above is mild compared to some of the venom Curry receives on his social media sites. While monitoring Curry’s mentions over the past couple years, I’ve actually found that Facebook users are much more trollish than Twitter users.
So why does Twitter always get named in stories about sports social media trolls? There’s a few reasons, including the fact that most athletes enjoy using Twitter over Facebook, plus Twitter timelines and alerts are easier for them to catch up on their mentions. But give Facebook credit for this – it at least has a profanity filter, something Twitter lacks.
So What Can We Do About Sports Social Media Trolls?
While I clearly don’t think Brennan’s advice of ignoring trolls is a good option, I’m also not sure of a solid solution. All I know is we have to figure out something. Racial attacks and death threats via social media were once a story, now they’re commonplace. I’m not willing to just put my arms up and say, “Who’s really paying attention to these people anyway?”
And don’t think athletes and celebrities are the only people dealing with this nonsense. Bringing back in Curry for an example again, after he had a brief exchange with a fan during the Warriors first round playoff series, this is what a troll tweeted to his wife:
@ayeshacurry ur husband is already talkin shit & fightin young kids?? Damn, he's gunna be a great father. Don't wana no behind doors!
— . (@Travisty08) May 1, 2013
The “fan” who wrote the above tweet was just getting started. He wound up mentioning Curry’s wife in 43 more angry and caustic tweets. That’s harassment of an athlete’s family member, and it’s not something we should ignore. Something has to be done to slow down the trolls.
Yes, the more media coverage they get, the more they’ll feel empowered. So maybe Twitter itself has to lead the way. It’s not the only social network, but it’s the most popular among athletes. In my opinion, trolls are the biggest threat to Twitter’s entire existence. Athletes and celebrities helped make the service the superpower it is today, but if they continue to be subjected to growing online abuse, how many of them will eventually have enough and sign-off like NFL kicker David Akers?
Or maybe someone with a strong voice and large platform like Christine Brennan would be able to make a difference. She’s tackled many societal issues in her career. Perhaps, instead of hoping this one just goes away, she could help find a much needed solution.
