Despite some great football being played so far in 2013 (and other stories outside of the sports world), a majority of the news cycle over the past two weeks has been dominated by the controversy surrounding Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o.
If you have the capability to find this blog, then you likely know the basic details behind the story. A star athlete at one of the premiere universities in the country had his profile raised to a higher echelon when details arose of the fact that he was playing the season with a heavy heart due to losing both his grandmother and girlfriend within hours of each other.
The nation fell in love with this story, and him, and it propelled an already-stellar football player above many others.....until it didn't.
When the existence of this girlfriend came into question, it came with follow-up questions that previous generations of people couldn't imagine ever asking:
"So, you were in a relationship with a girl that you did not meet?"
"You described a girlfriend in multiple interviews that you never saw in person?"
"You were in love with a person that died, but didn't go to her funeral?"
It was so unbelievable, and only made more so by the slow leaking of information that brought into question his credibility. As many have said throughout the life of this incident, at best, Manti is a gullible sucker. At worst, he is a borderline sociopath.
However, while there are many that consider themselves victims of this incident (or at least, left hurt and utterly confused), the people that will feel the brunt of the long-term repercussions aren't the fans or even Manti himself. The people that will be hurt are those that make an honest living utilizing social media.
The utilization of social networking sites as a marketing mechanism for businesses has been around for about half a decade (anyone claiming to have been a professional in this niche any longer is exaggerating). It has proven to be an excellent mechanism for businesses - especially ones with limited marketing budgets - to brand and promote their capabilities to the public, and there are a number of individuals (call them social media specialists, content managers, online curators, etc.) that have proven to be capable of helping businesses use the medium effectively.
The problem is that in the marketing world these days, anything new that is worth incorporating into a communications strategy is also considered, by some, to be worth utilizing just to earn a quick buck. For example, as soon as email found its way to being the default form of business communication in order to improve time and efficiency, the world was introduced to "spammers."
When this happens, it can be difficult to the untrained eye to tell the difference between the legitimate and the fakers, which raises the question, "who do I believe?"
This brings us back to Te'o. With such a public incident of how online communications can go beyond bad to the point of humiliation, it puts a stigma on social media as a whole. All of a sudden, nothing is believable, everything is a hoax, and anyone that is associated with the industry is just like the people that made up a person to trick a nice young man.
The industry will take a significant hit which will take an indeterminate amount of time to overcome, and those that have taken the time to learn the ins-and-outs of what makes social media different will have to suffer for a bit. The only thing they can do is be part of the solution and not become part of the problem.
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