Can A School Punish A Cheerleader For Social Media Use?

According to Ad Age, there are now more than 800 million active FB users (with an average of 130 friends), and 100 million active Twitter users. Social media is a part of everyday life, and high school students are one of the key groups of users. Though personal social media accounts are meant to be associated with the person that created and manages the account, you have to remember that as a cheerleader for your school, you are a representative of your school and your community. Any images and messages that you send out (even personal opinions!) can reflect on the reputation of your team, your athletic department and your school. Since there are no laws or official NCAA guidelines, school administrators and athletic departments from the college level down are trying to find the balance with this new media, and many are developing policies that include suspension from classes and school sports or explosion as punishments. It is best to check with your school to see if they have a policy. If they don’t have a policy, it is a good idea to ask your coach or captain to give you a list of guidelines that they expect you to follow. Regardless of whether or not you get official guidelines from your athletic department, here are some good tips for follow when using social media as a student-athlete: Keep your “friends’ and “followers’ narrowed down to people that you know and trust. Many people feel that it is a social faux pas to ignore friend requests, but you have to remember that you are giving people access to your personal information and opinions. “Accept’ with caution! Make your profiles private. Utilize the privacy setting that are available to limit who can access your photos and personal information. You can even limit specific posts on Facebook to be visible only to certain people. It’s worth the time to spend a few minutes customizing your privacy settings. Ask your friends not to tag you in inappropriate or irrelevant photos. Return the favor by not doing tagging them in any unflattering or inappropriate photos either. Monitor your tags and mentions and remove anything that might get you in trouble. On Facebook, you can set it so that you have to approve your tags and mentions before they are visible on your Timeline. Once something is on the Internet, it never really gets completely deleted. Avoid controversial photos, too much foul language and offensive material – remember, recruiters may do an Internet search on you! Google yourself at least once a month and skim the content that shows up. If you see use of your name or image that you have not authorized or do not approve, contact that site and have it removed. Being associated with a photo that contains any illegal content can get you in trouble, even if you were not doing anything illegal. Don’t pose for any pictures if you have second thoughts about sharing what you are doing. If you are thinking about posting a rant about a teammate or coach, first ask yourself if you are ok with whatever you say getting back to that person. Chances are, even if you aren’t directly connected to them on your profile, someone else is and your post will get back to them. If you don’t want everyone to know your business, don’t post your business on a more or less public forum. In general, just use your best judgment when engaging on social media! How has social media impacted your life as a student-athlete? Share your story in our comments! Want more information on about how schools and athletic departments are dealing with students-athletes and social media? Check out these articles: Suspended Over Twitter? High School Ok’d to Suspend Student for Rapping About “Dirty” Coaches Student-Athlete Suspended From NCAA FCS Playoffs For a Re-Tweet Can Your School Suspend You for a Facebook Post? …and don’t forget these controversies from the 2012 Olympics: Olympics-Aussie ‘gun-toting’ swimmers banned from Twitter