Many of you have a personal page on a social networking site, myspace, facebook, etc. Beware. If you don’t think college and professional scouts are looking at them, you are out of your mind. Let’s take a look at the do’s and do not’s of your profile page.
It all seems innocent and fun…posting pictures and comments on facebook or myspace for the world to see. But if you are serious about playing baseball at the next level, resisting the urge to post that picture of you drinking a beer on facebook may be in your best interest.
If you think your profile is in some protected, special place that only people you want to see it can, check out this post about how the NFL is using social sites to gather up some information on potential prospects. Wouldn’t you? Think about it, these colleges and professional teams are about to make a big investment in you. Professionally, it could be a million dollar plus signing bonus. At the college level, your scholarship money could top 50K. More importantly, colleges have limited roster spots and scholarships available.
If there are two players with similar abilities, one with a clean online profile, the other showing him partying, drinking, whatever…who would you choose? So let’s take a look at the do’s and don’ts of your social status on the web.
DO’s
- Do tell a some information about yourself. Be honest, let people know what you are interested in, favorite movies, etc. Doing this allows college coaches and scouts to learn a little about you. May be something you guys have in common.
- Do post some pictures of yourself. Just make sure they are clean.
- Do set up your profile so that you have to approve tagged photos. People will tag pictures of you, you do not want them automatically put on your profile page. Coaches and scouts will see these. You be the judge on what is appropriate and what is not.
- Do be careful who you accept as friends.
DON’Ts
- Don’t make obscene or racist comments. We know, this should be common sense, but look what happened to a University of Texas football player.
- Don’t post pictures that you wouldn’t want your mother to see on your profile. And if you don’t care what your mom sees, don’t put pictures of you drinking, smoking, partying, etc.
- Don’t accept anyone as your friend…even if she is beautiful. That is how NFL teams are getting into player profiles.
We understand that it is fun to update your friends with the latest events going on in your life. Ultimately, you have to make the call. Is it worth that 50K+ scholarship to let people know you were at a party two weeks ago? You be the judge, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
4 Responses
Scary, beware of good looking ladies on myspace!
This is crazy. If you are that player from Texas, you have to be a little smarter than that, come on now.
Is this legal!!!!!!!!! I guess I understand where they are coming from, but come one, do you really need to do that? Reminds me of that ex girlfriend stalking type!
Legal, not sure, but college recruits across the board need to be aware of the consequences. Employers have been using social networking sites to eliminate candidates for some time now. I’ve heard of numerous accounts of employers seeing a bit too much on a social network and as a result taking the candidate out of the running. You may feel cool with a beer in your hand and a hottie on your hip, but it may just pull you out of the running for a big time scholarship. Before you post ask yourself, is it really worth it to feel cool now if it could POSSIBLY ruin your successes in the future?