Florida State has lost three straight games, the last to noted national power Wake Forest. This has produced a fair bit of static for Seminoles players on Twitter from disgruntled fans, which is presumably why their tweeting days are done.
Florida State Loses To Wake Forest, Seminoles Players Lose Twitter
I’m of two minds about this.
First, no person should be subjected to the sort of cruel vitriol that FSU cornerback Greg Reid apparently received, and I can understand or Facebook or on the field at a road game.
Second, while it’s obviously Fisher’s prerogative to have players delete or vacate their social media accounts, and doesn’t constitute abridging freedom of speech because these players (er, student-athletes) are essentially contracted employees, I think it does college students a huge disservice to take away a valuable medium of communication because someone outside the coaching staff’s control abused it. Reid doesn’t have to get messages like that; he can block users who send them, or shame them with disgusted retweets.
There are ways for players to handle trolls on their own, and Florida State certainly has the resources to give players social media training — valuable both for the duration of their representation of the university and a future career — if it so chooses. If the ‘Noles wanted to combat hate with eyerolls and smiles, it would probably do more good for them than effectively having players clam up might.
There’s also the possibility that this wasn’t a decision by Fisher and his staff, but one his players proposed. If so, that’s some surprising maturity from college-aged young men. It still doesn’t do as much as bearing the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with a grin and a wink and some disinfecting sunlight might, but removing themselves from a potentially volatile situation is better behavior than a lot of college students will show at their local bars tonight.
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