Each year since 2013 we’ve compiled survey results from college athletes about their social media use. As we spend time on campuses around the country, it’s important that we continue to pay attention to trends in the platforms they use and their behavior on these platforms. The information is also important to coaches and administrators as they are the ones spending time each day with the players. The more informed they can be, the better and more relevant their conversations around this topic will be. We can’t have coaches out there trying to have a conversation about the use of MySpace and expect student–athletes to pay attention. You can see the results from 2013 here, 2014 here and last year here.
We collected responses over the last few weeks. In total, we have over 1300 student–athletes respond. We’ll analyze the results in a later post, but here are the numbers.
Participants: 1373
Level of competition
NAIA: 8%
D3: 18%
D2: 33%
D1: 41%
Male: 44%
Female: 56%
Facebook
97% have an account
54% say they use it less than they did one year ago
40% check it at least 5 times per day, without posting
93% post less than 5 times per day
63% have more than 500 Facebook friends
13% have posted something inappropriate (profanity, racial, sexual, drugs/alcohol, violence)
85% utilize Facebook’s privacy settings
80% “like” a brand page on Facebook
Twitter
84% have an account
37% check Twitter more than 10 times per day, without tweeting
30% check it less than 5 times per day, without tweeting
90% tweet between 1 and 5 times per day
39% have more than 500 followers
72% have a public account
17% have shared personal information on Twitter (phone number, email address, etc)
26% have tweeted something inappropriate (profanity, racial, sexual, drugs/alcohol, violence)
17% have received hateful/critical tweets from fans
11% have responded to hateful/critical tweets from fans
81% follow a brand on Twitter
Instagram
89% have an account
71% have a private account
32% check it more than 10 times per day, without posting
40% check it between 5 and 10 times per day, without posting
95% post between 1 and 5 times per day
9% have posted something inappropriate (profanity, racial, sexual, drugs/alcohol, violence)
79% follow a brand on Instagram
Snapchat
93% have an account
68% send more than 10 snaps per day
45% have posted something inappropriate (profanity, racial, sexual, drugs/alcohol, violence)
23% have sent snaps to someone they don’t know
36% have received snaps from someone they don’t know
26% have less than 30 friends on Snapchat
63% believe Snapchat is private
11% follow a brand on Snapchat
Which social media platform do you use the most?
Twitter: 30%
Snapchat: 27%
Instagram: 24%
Facebook: 15%
Tumblr: 4%
In addition to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, what social media platforms do you regularly use?
Facebook Messenger: 87%
Pinterest: 46%
LinkedIn: 24%
Vine: 18%
53% spend at least 1 hour per day on social media
13% spend more than 2 hours per day on social media
52% say they’ve had no social media training
30% say they’ve posted something online they regret
11% have witnessed a teammate being cyber-bullied on social media
6% have checked social media during one of their games
5% have posted to social media during one of their games
13% have engaged in a romantic relationship online
56% have met someone offline that they first interacted with on social media
47% have used social media to network for a job or internship
27% have posted to Yik Yak
31% believe Yik Yak is anonymous
Kevin DeShazo reprinted with permission, Fieldhouse Media is an award-winning firm dedicated to helping athletics departments get the most out of their social media efforts, from educating student–athletes and staff to providing an overall strategy.