Interview with Brian Varner

AW: How can university athletic departments leverage social media, and why should they?
BV: Fund-raising. Those that are following and contributing on your social networks are certainly engaged with the school. This is a highly qualified list for annual fund-raising. I also see short-term needs being fulfilled. When the Bonnies win their conference tournament this year, there’s a short window before they need to travel. This excitement could be an opportunity to fundraise to help the band and cheerleaders make the trip for the full collegiate athletic atmosphere supporting the Bonnies in tournament action. Yes, the above could also be applied for the Olympic sports as well.

AW: How can the risk of social media, when it is used by athletes, be minimized?
BV: Should athletes use it – I see where athletic departments would want to control messages, but can these be completely controlled. Whatever the athletic department’s stance, there should be language of inappropriate use, especially if it use on campus computers. Yes there is a threat, but the same threat can be an opportunity. The coaches and dept’s could use social networking to keep tabs of their athletes. Are there alcohol/drug references and pictures on their posts? Are they posting when they should be in class? There are numerous questions like these that can be answered. These topics came to mind based on a recent AOL article on dangers of social posting - http://www.walletpop.com/economizer/article/how-social-media-can-be-costly-to-your/721020?icid=mainhtmlws-main-ndl3link7http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Feconomizer%2Farticle%2Fhow-social-media-can-be-costly-to-your%2F721020


Brian Varner is a local advertising solutions specialist at Internet Broadcasting.