Megan Neely

COM 495
Sports Communication Case Study
The Effect of Social Media on College Athletes: Johnny Manziel
Social media shapes the perspective of all things in this world. Because all people have
easy access to social media, every moment is available in cyberspace for anyone to see. Social
media creates the brand of an individual, allowing society to know a person based off of their
social media platforms. The question surfaces when influentials post on social media. The most
well-know people have the most viewed profiles, so what happens when a college athlete posts
on social media, a person representing a team, an institution, and an individual, all in one post?
Through the study of Johnny Manziel and his social media tendencies, here is an evident
example of how social media can affect the long term reputation of an individual player.
Summary
As a current quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, Manziel has faced many
controversies with his social media accounts throughout his short-lived football career. In 2012,
USA Today highlights Manziels first controversial social media posts in, TMZ Photos Show
Johnny Manziel Celebrating In Club. The article stated, Manziel has mastered just
about every defense he has faced, but dealing with being in the spotlight has been a learning
process for the Texas A&M quarterback. Manziels Texas A&M experiences had started
him in the positive spotlight through football, but have left him in the negative spotlight through
social media, ultimately creating the image that he portrays today.
A 2013 USA Today article, The Good and Bad of Twitter and College Athletes, states
that, a tweet is just a tweet until its newsworthy, and Manziel had developed an impressive

knack for getting his posts viewed. As a quickly developing football player, his fame through the
sport rose remarkably, making his social media accounts no longer a private platform for
freedom of speech. To examine Manziels social media tendencies on a more extensive level, a
specific case brought his name to the headlines. This twitter post includes a picture of Manziel,
underage at the time, at the clubs and casinos. This case involves Manziel voluntarily posting the
photos, not realizing the wrath he would face with the outside media. In 2013, an article from
NESN.com about Manziel shutting down his twitter account, called Manziel, a noted social
media aficionado, with this one twitter post, leading to many more within a year time span. As
quickly as he voluntarily posted himself underage at the clubs, he just as quickly voluntarily
cancelled his twitter handle, after it was too late to fix his reputation.
Analysis
When analyzing the case of Johnny Manziel posting pictures at the club and casino, the
recurring challenges related to the sports communication topics are identity in sports and media
relations. Manziel had conquered new achievements by winning the Heisman Trophy, making
his name even more prominent in the spotlight. As this also set him up to be an example in the
football community, Manziel could not live up to this example with his social media identity.
The identity that would be ideal to portray was covered up by his posts in social media, leaving
the outside media to make an identity for him.
Social media is used to create an individual brand. Through social media, Manziel, like
others, wanted to promote his own identity. This identity was the Heisman-winning, touchdownscoring, record-setting football player from Texas A&M who is now playing in the NFL. In the
USA Today article highlighting his clubbing posts, Manziel said, "It's tough knowing that
everything you do is watched pretty closely because I'm doing the same stuff I've always done.

It's just now people actually care what I do." His new achievements not only caused society to
pay closer attention, but it also set Manziel up to withhold an example in the football community,
that Manziel could not withhold. Manziel used the social in social media, literally, where he
would post his social moments on media, consistently highlighting his drinking and partying
habits. This highlight became his twitter identity, even on the field. In a more recent article by
the Huffington Post in 2015, Johnny Manziel has Graduated to Full Blown Diaster, the life of
Manziel is shown on the field as a downhill battle. The article states, What is perhaps most
disappointing is Manziel's repeated history of mistakes and questionable judgment. His
demonstrated lack of maturity -- and this obviously includes his time at Texas A&M -- isn't
merely an issue, but rather a disaster. This represents the timeline from the original case of
Manziels dreadful start with social media and how this identity turned into real personal issues
in his life. Besides from his recent rehab visits, not only have his teammates lost respect for him,
but hes also lost his spot on the bench due to viral videos of him drunk at a party. The identity
Manziel has today is not the Heisman-winning, touchdown-scoring, record-setting 22 year-old,
and instead, is his twitter identity that started on social media two years ago.
Through this case, the outside media saw him as a weak athlete to target. At the time,
Manziel was brand new to being in the spotlight, misunderstanding the repercussions of
announcing his identity through twitter, which outside media sources found newsworthy.
Sbnation.com created a mockery article called, Remembering Johnny Manziel's Twitter: 20 or
so of his best contributions. The article started off, Johnny Manziel proved he wasn't just a
Heisman winner on the field, he was also a Heisman winner in 140 characters. After deciding to
delete his twitter due to the harrassments from the media, NESN.com states that, Johnny
Manziel is walking away from the game he has so much invested in the Twitter game, that

is. While the media poked at him, Manziel would make the situation worse by retaliating on
social media. This acted as another way that social media hurt his reputation. The Sbnation.com
article showed that after the photos went viral of him at the clubs and casinos, he tweeted again
stating, Nothing illegal about being 18+ in a casino and winning money KEEP HATING.
As his point is true, what he does not realize is that the identity perceived when reading those
tweets is that hes a partier, underage, and arrogant to the media. The irony surfaces when
Manziel deletes his social media because of the outside media. This shows the challenges
Manziel faced when attempting to put his identity on twitter, and how the outside media had the
ability to portray that to society in any light.
Assessment
Through the assessment of this case, the publics and audiences that were most important
were Manziels teammates, his twitter viewers, and the outside media. Manziel found that he was
not only representing himself in this situation, but also his team and his institution. As mentioned
before, once his twitter identity was created with posting photos of himself at the clubs, that
identity showed on the field, making his teammates lose respect. The twitter viewers and outside
media are two publics that go hand in hand. As Manziel posted on social media, his twitter
followers would post, as well. As his twitter followers interacted with his post, the outside media
saw the newsworthy component. All of which ultimately affect the identity Manziel established
through his twitter account, unfortunately, making him the athlete he is today.
Johnny Manziel did not handle the situation well. Through his consistent controversial
posts, even after his clubbing situation, he continued to feed the media and his viewers negative
information. On top of his consistency, he would retaliate towards his publics, giving him an
even more negative image. One thing Manziel did well was eventually deleting his twitter

account. It is better to say nothing at all then to give the media facts to use to bring him down. If
Texas A&M could have given Manziel consequences for his social media behavior two years
ago, not only would his twitter identity stay out of the spotlight, but his personal partying and
drinking issues would have diminished also.
Conclusion
As social media has become a platform for creating a brand or identity, Johnny Manziels
football career has been negatively affected. From this case, it is evident that influentials have
more dominance in the outcome of posts in the social media world. The first college freshman to
win the Heisman Trophy is prestigious enough, but by inappropriately posting photos of himself
underage at a club or a casino loses all credibility. Manziel had voluntarily created his twitter
identity, ultimately transitioning to his identity on the field. While identity and media relations
were clearly his greatest challenges, these challenges reflected the portrayal from his teammates,
his social media viewers, and the outside media. As the Huffington post concludes, but
impressive as it was, Manziel's past success can no longer carry him, implying that although
success stems from his past, unfortunately, his social media tendencies influenced his overall
physical talent, as well as his future career in football.
References
Auerbach, N. (2013, January 10). The Good and Bad of Twitter and College Athletes. USA
Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/other/2013/01/10/collegeathletes-twitter-criticism-johnny-manziel-kentucky/1823959/
Gleeson, S. (2013, August 5). Breakdown: All the Fame, Controversy of Johnny Manziels
Offseason. USA Today. Retrieved from

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/08/05/breakdown-texas-am-quarterbackjohnny-manziels-2013-offseason-antics/2620435/
Loiselle, M. (2013, March 26). Johnny Manziel Shuts Down Twitter Account After Constant
Negative Comments, Privacy Problems. Retrieved from http://nesn.com/2013/03/johnnymanziel-shuts-down-twitter-account-after-constant-negative-comments-privacy-problems/
Schultz, J. (2015, November 24). Johnny Manziel has Graduated to Full-Blown Disaster. The
Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/johnny-manziel-brownsfuture_5654d1dce4b0d4093a599552?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067
Sherman, R. (2013, March 27). Remembering Johnny Manziels Twitter: 20 or so of His Best
Contributions. Retrieved from
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/3/27/4151086/johnny-manziel-twitter