National letter of intent signing day never used to be one
of the most treasured days on the sports calendar. For the most intense college
football fans, the day used to mean little more than a few preview articles in
the newspaper and wrap up of the recruiting class with little fanfare. Things
have changed immensely though, and it does not seem as if there is any going back.
Today, national signing day is almost like a holiday for football
geeks. A day when grown men can gather around computers to celebrate 18-year-old
boys choosing where they will play a game they still love, America’s game,
football. Fans are no longer questioned about their fanatical following of
recruiting updates. It is all just part of the college football landscape undoubtedly
changing due to the rise of social media.
One of the best examples of this change is the constant
updates through blogs, such as Black Shoe Diaries. Fans no longer have to wait
until tomorrow’s paper or even a web article to be posted to find out who is
signing where. For the instant gratification nuts in the room, social media is
now being used to put all this information in the palm of your hand at a second’s
notice. For instance, as soon the recruiting deadline passed, Black Shoe
Diaries posted this article, which highlighted Penn State’s successes on a rocky
recruiting day.
The fact that information is accessible immediately is
undoubtedly the driving force behind national signing day entering a whole new
realm of hype and media personnel are not the only ones taking advantage of
this hype. Coaches and players alike have turned to social media to assist in
the recruiting process. Coaches find that they must join social networks, like
Facebook and Twitter, to keep up with the competition. They also use social
media to get a better understanding of who the players are and gauge off the
field character.
Players are also using these mediums to get their name out
there and boost their recruiting prospects. They can use Twitter direct
messages and personal Facebook messages to contact coaches without any
recruiting violations being imposed. This is a great way to get around all of
the violations hype that has been flowing in the recent years.
Gone are the days when we would find out about the
recruiting class from our favorite college next year on the field. Now, whether
we like it or not, college recruiting has been changed by social media. The
process will continue into the future, as well, as mediums change and new
mediums form.
I can remember the days in high school when athletes would sign their letters of intent to join whatever college athletic team they were going to join next year. It was always exciting seeing where my friends were going to go to take their talents to the next level.
ReplyDeleteEven as a college student, I was getting the news from home about where the underclassmen were headed to college. It took a few days for my school's website to post the picture of the athletes headed to college, and there was always an article in the paper about the students as well.
Now it seems as though the news spreads in an instant. I remember a few weeks back on Twitter reading about signing day. Pictures were posted in Facebook almost instantly with the kids in their future college of choice's sweatshirts signing away. Penn State fans were constantly tweeting/Facebooking about who was going to come to our school next year to play football.
It's amazing how things can change in a year or two, and how social media has created more hype for these future athletes. It is my hope that this increase in publicity does not interfere with their main purpose: to play their sport, represent their school, and continue with their higher education.
James if you haven't already I suggest that you check out my latest podcast and blog, I just did a post about social media being put into professional athlete's contracts. Some professional athletes that are spokes people for different brands have it in their contracts that they have to make a certain number of posts every month solely about the sponsoring brand.
ReplyDeleteThere was another article that I wrote about saying that social media such as twitter is giving athletes a little more leverage on their contracts. Not only is it a fast way for them to communicate if they are a free agent or where they would like to go and all those other things, but it is also being used to determine the off the field reputation of the player and if the franchise believes it would be worth bringing the player to their team.