5 Social Media Fails from the Sports World · Today’s Athletes Join TB Contact Home / Blog / Social Media / 5 Social Media Fails from the Sports World ... with this open line of

10/5/2016 5 Social Media Fails from the Sports World | Today's Business | New Jersey Digital Advertising

http://tbsmo.com/5-social-media-fails-from-the-sports-world/ 1/8

About Us

Services

Today’s Athletes

Join TB

Contact

Home / Blog / Social Media / 5 Social Media Fails from the Sports World

5 Social Media Fails from the Sports WorldAugust 26th, 2015 Social Media

Social Media has become such integral part of sports media and marketing that it has become the number one

source for people to read their sports news, follow players they idolize, and debate over hot topics in the sporting

world. This two way window also allows athletes to reach their fans in a way they could never before. However,

with this open line of communication comes more responsibility. Social media has become so important that

athletes at both the professional and collegiate level are being taught how to behave and carry themselves

professionally while on the major social media networks. Well, some players still don’t listen! Check out some of

the funnier social media fails in the sports industry.

Make Sure You Get Your Facts Straight!Before we even get into the antics of athletes on social media, lets make it clear that not all fails come from the

athletes. Some come from teams, owners, in this case, celebrity fans. In 2011 when the Jerry Sandusky case

regarding child sex abuse at Penn State broke out, it was all over the news, especially social media. However it

seems one person didn’t get the memo…



Ashton Kutcher is an Iowa Hawkeyes football fan, a rival of PennState, and apparently also living under a rock. Ashton sent out this tweet without knowledge of the events thathave taken place. It goes to show you that you should probably check your facts before you hit that tweet button.

Direct Message vs. A TweetAs most of you know, Twitter has a couple of ways of sending messages. One would be a tweet, which is a publicmessage out there for everyone to see. The other option is to use a direct message, or DM, which is a private chat-type message between you and one of your followers. It seems like this one athlete didn’t know the difference!

Former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong failed to understand the difference. Lance accidentally put hisphone number out as a regular tweet for the whole world to see. As you can tell it was shared quite well andArmstrong had to change his number. I wonder what kind of texts and calls he got?!

I before E, except after CNBA player Larry Sanders was so excited about his new tattoo that he had to post it on Instagram, a social mediaplatform for sharing pictures and short videos. I think he jumped the jump here and failed to realize what thetattoo actually said.



Do you notice anything wrong here? I’ll give you a second to look… See it yet? Unfortunately, Larry’s tattoo

artist never learned this grammar rule in school. Larry missed the fact that his tattoo saying “Recieve” was spelled

wrong. Not only did he not notice, but he also posted it on Instagram for all his followers to see. He sure did

RECEIVE some great engagement!

Think Before Your Tweet

Contest are a great way to receive engagement from fans, especially when you’re an athlete, although some times

they can backfire. New York Jets Wide Receiver Eric Decker ran a contest asking Jets fans to show why they love

the Jets.

Whomever’s idea this was failed to realize that Jets haven’t had the greatest team as of late, which could lead to

backlash from disgruntled fans…

Sarcastic tweets like this came in at the thousands, which even caused Decker’s wife to lash out, tweeting: “You

think he really cares what y’all think haters? He’s laughing his ass alllll the way home … Life is pretty good here,

can’t complain.“ His wife later deleted the tweet, but as you can see this contest escalated quickly. The lesson we

can learn from Mr. Decker and his PR team is to know the demographic you’re targeting before you post

something like this. Remember, you’re not in Denver anymore Eric!

Choose the Right Hashtag



Tweet

Previous articleWhat Does Your Instagram Filter Say About Your PersonalityNext article 3 Reasons Why KPI Reporting Maximizes Performance on Facebook & TwitterSearch TB

Choose the Right Hashtag

If you’re a football fan, your probably aware of the issues surrounding the name of Washington DC’s footballteam, the Redskins. There’s a controversy where some see the name Redskins as racist towards people of NativeAmerican decent. If there’s one thing you should know about social media, it should be to avoid controversy.That’s exactly what this football team didn’t do.

Then ran a hashtag contest telling users to tweet #RedskinsPride, right during the time this controversy was takingplace. As you can probably assume, the reaction didn’t turn out the way the planned…

Just like with Decker, but to a greater extent, mean and sarcastic comments swarmed Twitter and made anembarrassment out of the Washington Redskins organization. When creating a social media campaign it’s crucialthat you stay away from controversial topics. The Washington Redskins learned the hard way.

With the NFL season only weeks away, and college football kicking off this weekend, it’s only a matter of timeuntil our Twitter feeds are filled up with hilarious tweets from the football world. What NFL player do you thinkhas the most outrageous Twitter account? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Can’t seem to find a way to cram more sports into your day? Check out our blog 13 Sports Accounts You Need toFollow for some tips on how to fill your timeline and NewsFeed with.

Like 11



Latest Popular

TB Team Blog

The Best Startup Blogs to FollowOctober 3rd, 2016

The Impact of Increasing Website Traffic for a Physician GroupOctober 3rd, 2016

How a New App Can Help Doctors Save LivesSeptember 28th, 2016

Facebook for FoodiesSeptember 26th, 2016

How Social Media Raises Medical AwarenessSeptember 21st, 2016



3 Reasons Why Facebook Rejected Your AdSeptember 19th, 2016

7 Instagram Accounts That Will Enrich Your LifeSeptember 14th, 2016

The Impact of SEO on an Orthopedic PracticeSeptember 12th, 2016

4 Ways Orthopedic Surgeons Can Be Successful on Social MediaSeptember 12th, 2016

5 Ways to Stay Focused and Motivated Around the OfficeSeptember 7th, 2016

Today’s Business

Headquarters

39 Route 46 East Unit 801Pine Brook, NJ 07058+1 (973) 575.1600

[email protected] us on the map



Latest Popular

Connect With Us

Search TB

TBTeam Blog

The Best Startup Blogs to FollowOctober 3rd, 2016

The Impact of Increasing Website Traffic for a Physician GroupOctober 3rd, 2016

How a New App Can Help Doctors Save LivesSeptember 28th, 2016

Facebook for FoodiesSeptember 26th, 2016

Contact Us

Name *



Subject *

Email *

Message *

Enter the message as it's shown *

© 2016 Today's Business - All Rights Reserved

About UsBlogCase StudiesPressTB SocialTB TeamServicesSocial Media MarketingDigital Advertising ServicesProduction and Graphic DesignReputation ManagementWebsite DevelopmentToday’s AthletesJoin TBCareersInternshipsContactPrivacy Policy

Documents

5 Social Media Fails from the Sports World · Today’s Athletes Join TB Contact Home / Blog / Social Media / 5 Social Media Fails from the Sports World ... with this open line of