Michael Same “Comes Out”

Press releases or news releases are crucial in all aspects of society whether you are addressing something related to sports or the government.

• News Release Rules

 

The Internet has changed it the rules for news releases. Your primary audience is no longer just a handful of journalists, but millions of people across the Web. The best way to perform news releases would be through these steps:

• Don’t just send a news releases when big news is happening; find good reasons to send them all the time
• Instead of just targeting a handful of journalists, create news releases that appeal directly to your buyers
• Write releases that are replete with keyword-rich copy
• Include offers that compel consumers to respond to your release in some way
• Place links in release to deliver potential customers to landing pages on your website or to other valuable information published by your organization, such as online video
• Optimize news release delivery for searching and browsing
• Drive people into the sales process with news releases

• Player Comes Out

News releases are typically big news related. In sports, they can be things like injuries to players or a coach being fired. One of the biggest news releases in recent sports was the “coming out” of University of Missouri football player Michael Sam.
Michael Sam, an All-American defensive lineman from Missouri and the Associated Press’ SEC Defensive Player of the Year, said that he is gay in an interview with ESPN.
“I understand how big this is,” he said. “It’s a big deal. No one has done this before. And it’s kind of a nervous process, but I know what I want to be … I want to be a football player in the NFL.”
Sam is eligible for the NFL draft in May. Assuming that he is drafted, Sam could become the first openly gay player in the history of the NFL.
“I didn’t realize how many people actually knew, and I was afraid that someone would tell or leak something out about me,” he said. “I want to own my truth. … No one else should tell my story but me.”

Changing the Social Media Mind-Set Challenge

Chapter 21 of the Social Media Bible talks about reputations and changing your mindset to become a professional. When using social media, you have to change one thing.

Overall, we have to realize there is a different mind-set when using social media. Not all uses intuitive, especially when we’ve had two or three decades of doing things differently and having success without new ways. Some techniques are the same and some are different. The key to your success is knowing the difference.

In case of many athletes today, they do not know the difference and therefore pay the price.

There are many examples of athletes not knowing the difference between behaving and being a smart user of social media and those that misbehave.

• Nyjer Morgan

The first is former MLB player Nyjer Morgan. Morgan tweeted a barrage of remorseful messages to his followers claiming he had cheated on his ex-girlfriend. The tweets included the lines “I did something horrible today nation” and “I’m just a cheater.” Morgan’s “About Me” Twitter information was also changed to “this is dedicated to my x girlfriend I cheated on and left in the streets this page was changed by me.”

• Cardale Jones

Another great example is of Ohio State University football player Cardale Jones. Jones tweeted “Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.” This is a prime example as to how Jones did not make accept the social media challenge and has acted immature as a minor celebrity.

• Darnell Dockett

Darnell Dockett of the Arizona Cardinals has also been caught on Twitter misbehaving and not changing his mindset. When the play on the field in the BCS title game between Alabama and Notre Dame became inevitable, television cameras panned to the attractive girlfriend of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron in hopes of keeping viewers interested. Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett, sent Webb tweets asking McCarron’s (Alabama starting quarterback) girlfriend if she would like to accompany him for chicken wings and a trip to a gentleman’s club. This is clearly inappropriate and horrible for fans to see.