Is Stopping the Right Thing to do?
No we haven’t lost our minds here at Sports Networker. We want to dig deeper. Do you give something up because it didn’t work out for you the way you envisioned it? Okay not just work out, but really almost cost you your career.
A few weeks ago one of the other writers here at Sports Networker published a great piece on Manti Te’o’s decision to stop using social media. You can find the article HERE.
We aren’t here to re hash Manti’s decision. But rather I am here to raise the question: Is this the right thing to do?
I’ll start off by saying that I am not a big Notre Dame fan, nothing against them I have just never grown up rooting for them. And my viewpoint of Manti after this entire scandal has not changed much at all.
So I don’t judge him, hold anything against him for what happened, and overall have not changed my viewpoint of him as a human or a football player. I think he’s probably a good, young kid who works hard and got duped. I felt bad for him when this all went down.
The only thing I had wanted was all the talking heads to stop covering the topic! I didn’t care all that much honestly. But is Manti making the right decision?
What Can Social Media do for Manti?
I believe that at least through the NFL combines and when he is drafted staying off of the web is a pretty good decision. I only say that because a lot of the NFL execs who will be evaluating Manti don’t get the brand building and customer experiences that social media can provide. They understand and know one thing: FOOTBALL. They will view it in a positive light.
After the draft, however, I think it’s an opportunity for Manti to rebuild his online personal brand. Social media would only be an outlet for this of course. But perhaps he could launch a charitable website for underprivileged children. That will get legs through social media. He can profile his summer camp story and show everyone how much his focus has not wavered, that would also spread virally through social media.
He has an opportunity to show that he’s not going to back down and go away from doing something he enjoyed because of a few bad apples. Because athletes and celebrities (albeit many of them don’t use it this way) have an opportunity on social media to absolutely build a personal brand faster than anyone else on this Earth and have it build a career for them off the field and long after their playing days are over. Life is a marathon and not a sprint. Manti definitely hit a bump in the road with this experience and terrible hoax on Twitter. I’m not saying I can’t understand why he wants to do this, but I believe he will be letting the hackers and the hoaxers win. One more person out there doing no good on social media and one less person with a positive message to spread off of there.
It goes deeper than football. It’s a battle of good vs bad. Everytime we let the do no gooders (yes that may be some bad English) knock us down and we don’t fight back they win.
Manti’s opportunity to spread awareness of future hoaxes like this, the chance to build his personal brand, and the opportunity to show that he hasn’t changed and can’t wait to play football and have a long professional career both on and off the field to me far outweigh the distractions of a few people sending him messages poking fun of him on twitter or facebook for falling for that stunt in the first place.
Don’t listen to the outsiders
I have no idea the scrutiny and pressure Manti has gone through and unfortunately continues to go through. If I could speak to him today though I would tell him to:
- Ignore the outsiders
- Don’t listen to them
- Use your talents and your positive influence and spread through actions
Social media is a great outlet to spread those ideas and hopefully make a change. Ignore everything else. Best of luck to Manti in the NFL and whatever decision he sticks with in regards to social media!
Thanks for reading everyone! Have a great day and if you want to weigh in please leave your comments below or tweet us @SportsNetworker or email me at mike@marketingfunwithmike.com.
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