It has been brought to my attention that a message less than 140 characters long could be the catalyst of death threats. Now more than ever, one thought, comment or video can be spread to the world in the blink of an eye. All people, not only athletes and celebrities, need to be advised to ‘think before you tweet’ because of how permanent social media can be.
The Green Bay Packers visited the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field for the NFL’s NFC Championship. It was a close game between long-time rivals. After the half, Chicago Bears Quarterback, Jay Cutler sat on the bench while the rest of the offense was on the field. He looked injured, which wasn’t a good sign for the Bears. As trainers were looking at Cutler, other NFL players said EXACTLY how they felt about Culter’s injury at the same time online. Their choice of media? Twitter.
An athlete with a large Twitter following is Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He stated that he played the whole season on a hurt knee and therefore Cutler should play the rest of the game. What he didn’t realize was that Jay’s injury was much more severe than his own. So when the test results came back that Jay had a tear in his MCL, Twitter fans backlashed at Maurice Jones-Drew and the other players in a harsh way, some even receiving death threats.
Can you think of an example of someone who has tweeted before thinking? If so, what were the consequences?
Adam