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Opening The Gate: College Athletes and Twitter

Piascik, James J., II
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1406562599

Abstract Details

2014, MA, Kent State University, College of Communication and Information / School of Media and Journalism.
Twitter has opened the gate for college athletes regarding how easily they can broadcast their thoughts to the world, changing their relationship with the university. Regarding this change, I investigated the opening Twitter provides to college athletes; how college athletes view Twitter and any oversight of their social media use; why college athletes use Twitter; and how social media and Twitter changed the way universities interact with college athletes. To do this, I conducted a textual analysis of 12 Kent State University college athletes' tweets, interviewed the same 12 athletes, and spoke with eight members of the athletic department. What I found was that administrators, coaches, and athletes at Kent State saw the overall benefits of social media and Twitter, though they were also aware of the problems and pitfalls it offers. Given the place social media and the Internet have in the world today, those interviewed recognized social media and Twitter are not going anywhere, and they should embrace it while doing everything possible to minimize the risk.
Danielle Coombs, Ph.D (Advisor)
Tim Roberts, M.A. (Committee Member)
Jeff Fruit, M.A. (Committee Member)
85 p.
Journalism
College athletes; Twitter; social media; college administrators; gatekeeper

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Piascik, II, J. J. (2014). Opening The Gate: College Athletes and Twitter [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1406562599

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Piascik, II, James. Opening The Gate: College Athletes and Twitter. 2014. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1406562599.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Piascik, II, James. "Opening The Gate: College Athletes and Twitter." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1406562599

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.