With all the rage about social media these days, it was only in time that professional athletes became part of the craze. Social media can be very beneficial for athletes to use to promote themselves or their team.

 While social media has a positive reputation for creating exposure and allowing athletes to brand themselves, it is also stirring up some negative attention. The largest issue is that there is no agent or PR person monitoring what is being said which in result is leading to mini controversies.

 Charlie Villaneuva, Milwaukee Bucks forward, was reprimanded by coach Scott Skiles for tweeting during halftime of a game against the Boston Celtics. He wrote "In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ballgame at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up." Since then, the Bucks have banned Twitter from the locker room.

 Lane Kiffin, Tennessee Volunteers head coach, received a recruiting violation for his use of social media. Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks was noted making questionable comments.

 Pro sports teams have not had to make social media policies but this may be about to change. The Green Bay Packers were told they would be fined if they tweet during a game or team function. Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano outlawed Twitter to make sure his players don't do anything dumb.

 I believe teams should let their players use the tools as long as they are representing their team in the same way they would when dealing with traditional media and as long as its use doesn't detract from the players attention from the game, their performance or the team's image.

 Like everyone else, athletes need to be very careful of what they post on the internet because once it's there, it's there forever. 

Ann Arbor.com

In July the Ann Arbor News closed and was replaced by Internet site AnnArbor.com that is in the vanguard of journalism in developing this new information delivery model. It is locally focused with a lot of user-generated content, social networking and discussion groups. A print edition of the paper is distributed on Thursdays and Sundays.

The combination of traditional journalism and user-generated content creates a reader friendly site. Readers can contribute blogs, photos, videos, stories and other information. Social media tools allow users to create a profile and comment on stories.

Ann Arbor is the first mid-to-large size American city to lose its only daily paper. Ann Arbor was thought to be a great place to be a laboratory to create new ways to share local information because of it being a tech-savvy city with 92% of the population having access to the Internet.

From July issue of Focus, published by the Small Business Association of Michigan

Understanding Social Media and its Advantages

By Amanda Deluca and Chris Bittner

Welcome to the 5th era of marketing! Social media (SM) is taking the world by storm and yet 90% of the population knows little of it.

According to communitymangers.com, social media is the collection of tools and online spaces available to help individuals and businesses to accelerate their information and communication needs. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are known currently as the "Big 3." Facebook is a social networking site for people to connect. LinkedIn is a professional networking community to connect and stay in touch with colleagues and clients. Twitter is a microblogging site where users share information in 140 characters or less.

The biggest advantage of businesses using social media is that is an inexpensive, effective and easy way to market your business and product. For most sites, all you need to sign up is a valid email address and they walk you through the rest. Typically, this takes only a few minutes and is non-technical. Most of these networks want to make the process simple and easy.

Some other forms of social media that are not as popular but still very beneficial for businesses to use to effectively are Blogs, Podcasts, Flickr, YouTube and One Minute U. Blogs can be written by anyone about any subject. They are beneficial to companies by driving traffic to their website and creating credibility. Podcasts are the audio version of a blog typically done in an interview format that can be downloaded to your computer or Ipod and listened to at your convenience. These create credibility as well. Flickr is a place to post and share your pictures. This is a way to share. YouTube is a place to share videos and promote your product and ideas. One Minute U was created by the Learning Antics and is a site made specifically to promote products or services in a one minute video.

Other than the more commonly used networks, there are many sites for entrepreneurs to connect with other small business owners. Mashable.com, a highly creditable news source, says that Entrepreneur Connect, PartnerUp, StartupNation, Biznik, Perfect Business, Go BIG Network, Cofoundr, The Funded, and Young Entrepreneur are great sites to help small businesses succeed by giving them guidance, tools and the resources that they need.

When it comes to social media there are two things to know.  The first concept is that SM is not very technical.  The websites make it very easy for the user to create a page and then network off of it.  Social media sites have step-by-step walkthroughs on what you need to do next, and then the rest is learned by experience.  It should only take a few days of consistent use to have a comfortable understanding of the site and how it works.  People of all ages and technical experience are joining social media sites constantly and that number will only grow.  The other concept is that SM is not a fad.  It is becoming a way of life, no longer are professionals handing out their business cards with just an address and a phone number.  They are putting links to their SM pages, so the world can have a better understanding of who they are and what they stand for.  There is only so much that a business card can say about a person or company, but with SM the possibilities are endless. 

This is a great way for companies to have a more personal relationship with consumers and gives you a chance to control your image to a wider demographic.

When deciding to create a social media page, a company has three options. First would be to set it up and manage it yourself, second would be to have someone set it up for you then manage it yourself and third to hire someone to both set it up and manage the sites for you.

The future of social media is still very unknown. Many of the sites will not survive due to lack of proper funding. Large international firms such as Google, Microsoft or large entertainment companies will acquire some of the sites and some sites will merge together.

Social media is a great way to market your company and product. It's free, easy, and a great way to share relevant information about yourself or company. Through it, you can connect with your consumers and network with other business owners for little to no cost.  With this in mind, just do it.  Social media is rapidly changing the world of marketing and over the coming years we will witness many more changes not only in the way people connect but also in the way companies will market themselves.