David Bohanna; How Rugby Personalities utilise Twitter

“HOW%RUGBY%PERSONALITIES%
UTILISE%TWITTER%TO%TARGET%THEIR%
PUBLICS,%AND%THE%REACTION%OF%THE%
PR%INDUSTRY”%
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TITLE%
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HOW%RUGBY%PERSONALITIES%UTILISE%
TWITTER%TO%TARGET%THEIR%
PUBLICS,%AND%THE%REACTION%OF%THE%
PR%INDUSTRY”%

Submitted by David Bohanna

22nd March 2012

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the BA (Honours)
in Media & Public Relations in the Institute of Technology Carlow

Acknowledgements
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This dissertation has shaped my life in many ways over the last few months; it
has at times been a joy whilst at other times I wanted to be anywhere but at the
computer (being a technophobe doesn’t help). I have met some great and
fascinating people whilst doing it, the rugby stars Bernard Jackman and Alan
Quinlan were so helpful and could not do enough for me whilst the PR
consultants Michael O’Keeffe, Marcus O’Buachalla and Miriam Donohoe
were generous with their time and responses.

It has been a very fast three years and a time I will never forget, along the way
I have made some great friends and been involved in various experiences I will
always remember. I have to thank all my lecturers over this time and I really
do appreciate those times you gave that little extra and offered encouragement
and support when my esteem and belief was low.

Finally to my son Oisin, who has always made me proud and so very happy to
be his dad.

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Abstract
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Initially the author looked at the feasibility of researching the subject matter
and decided if there was enough material to allow for investigation and if it
was an area of research worth pursuing. The answer to both of these questions
was yes so subject matter was chosen.

A comprehensive literary review was then carried out to establish what
research had been done into this subject, and from this it was decided on which
path the author would take. Research methodology was also decided upon and
adjusted to suit the overall aims and objectives.

Interviews were also conducted with results allowing for overall conclusions to
be drawn and recommendations to be made.

What the author discovered from this undertaking was the need for greater and
more in depth study of Twitter and the PR industry’s reaction to it. There has
been an uptake from both the rugby and PR industry to the use of Twitter but
guidelines are yet to be fully established for its use.

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Table Of Contents
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….....i

Abstract………………………………………………………………….....ii

Table Of
Contents……………………………………………………………….iii - iv

1 RESEARCH ....................................................................................... 1
1.1 Title of dissertation ................................................................... 2
1.2 Reasoning behind researching this subject ............................. 2
1.3 Research Objectives ................................................................. 3
2 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ............................................................... 4
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 5
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................. 6
3.1 Research Methodology ............................................................. 7
3.2 Secondary Research ................................................................. 7
3.3 Primary Research...................................................................... 8
3.4 Intended conclusion from research ....................................... 10
3.5 Bibliography ........................................................................... 10
4 SECONDARY RESEARCH ................................................................ 11
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................ 12
4.2 Social Networking................................................................... 13
4.3 Twitter..................................................................................... 14
4.4 Twitter & Rugby ..................................................................... 15
5 FINDINGS & ANALYSIS .................................................................. 20
5.1 Primary Research.................................................................... 21
5.2 Email interview with Michael O’Keeffe.................................. 23
5.3 Email interview with Marcus O’Buachalla ............................. 25
5.4 Email Interview with Miriam Donohoe .................................. 28
5.5 Interview with Bernard Jackman............................................ 30
5.6 Interview with Alan Quinlan .................................................. 34
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5.7 Findings .................................................................................. 38
5.8 Rugby personalities: ............................................................... 38
5.9 PR Professionals: .................................................................... 38
5.10 Limitations .......................................................................... 40
6 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................ 41
6.1 Conclusions ............................................................................ 42
7 RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................... 44
7.1 Recommendations .................................................................. 45
8 REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................... 47
8.1 References .............................................................................. 48
8.2 Bibliography ........................................................................... 50

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1 RESEARCH

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1.1 Title of dissertation
“How rugby personalities utilise Twitter to target their publics
and the reaction of the PR industry”

1.2 Reasoning behind researching this subject
The author chose this subject as it is a relatively new and growing
phenomenon which shows no sign of slowing or dissipating. It is an area
which has an impact on everyone’s lives each and every day be it directly or
indirectly. Our lives are now shaped to a certain extent by social media, and
sports personalities are becoming ever more vocal and willing to be heard. We
now have a chance to engage with these personalities on a virtual one to one
basis, they are no longer the distant and unreachable people they once were.
The author feels that this needed to be explored further and an understanding
gained of how and why this happened.

Also because of this upsurge in the use of social media the PR industry has had
to react and adapt accordingly. What are the steps being taken by the industry
to counteract any negativity social media has brought and how are they using it
to their own and their clients’ advantage.

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1.3 !Research Objectives
At the end of the dissertation the author will have questions answered which
would be of benefit to the publics, sports personalities and PR consultants.
The author will find out how PR companies are reacting to the use of Twitter
by rugby personalities and the ways in which it can be utilised, also what
measures are being taken to counteract any negativity surrounding Twitters
use. The area of using Twitter as a commercial undertaking in our own name
will be examined also and whether there is a middle ground for
personal/commercial use of Twitter by rugby personalities.

Specific questions the author will have answered are:

How rugby personalities are embracing Twitter, and for what purposes.

How the PR industry is reacting to the advent of Twitter.

The future for Twitter in the PR industry.

What guidelines and rules are in place to control the use of Twitter.

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2 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

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2.1 Introduction
The aim of this dissertation was to highlight the increased use of Twitter by
both the PR industry and rugby personalities. It is used both privately and
professionally but these uses often intertwine so the distinction between both is
blurred. New media is here to stay and is changing the landscape of PR every
day be it for better or worse. The reaction from the PR industry has been
varied and some have embraced it more than others, what this dissertation
hopes to achieve is to gauge how much the world of PR has changed along
with the media landscape and what plans are in place to embrace and use this
new media technology.

Sports personalities are also now very much part of the social media and
Twitter scene and their opinions, views and daily lives are now more
transparent and open to fans than ever before. Followers of these personalities
and rugby personalities in particular number in the hundreds of thousands.
This opens up the way for rugby personalities to promote themselves and their
views to their publics as never before. The clever ones have embraced Twitter
from the very beginning and continue to use it to their advantage at every
opportunity.

This has opened up new avenues of revenue to these personalities but also it
brings risks, such as public backlash for some poor performance or a
misplaced comment put up in haste. The PR industry therefore needs to work
with these personalities in the work of promotion and PR campaigns using
Twitter while at the same time learning as they go along.

It is a time of opportunity, of fast moving news, fickle and fierce opinions and
a public that needs and expects to be informed about all that is happening as it
happens. By utilising Twitter from now, and working alongside their clients,
PR firms and personalities can expect to find new business revenues, new
campaign structures and greater customer and fan bases.

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3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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3.1 Research Methodology
Research can be defined in many ways,

“A scholarly or scientific investigation or inquiry.”

Or

“Endeavour to discover facts by scientific study of a subject, course or critical
investigation.”

Or

“Planned investigation employing recognised scientific methodology en route
for explaining issues, solving problems and creating new knowledge that is
generally applicable”.

(Grinnell, 1993, 4)

This would be a good starting point to explain the author’s research
methodology. There are various systems in place to do any research and each
of them have their own merits, however not all suited the author in the area of
research as some are more suited to other fields.

The methods the author used in doing the dissertation were a mixture of
qualitative and quantitative research methods. Secondary research consists of
using already existing information be it in the form of books, online or other
such forms. This information whilst valuable was not the main source of
information for the author as this is a relatively new field and the most up to
date information was gleaned by doing primary research.

3.2 !Secondary Research
As part of the authors overall dissertation there was also a literary review
submitted which the author used as a grounding in research techniques, social
media as a communicative tool, the role of the public’s in shaping
personalities and the role of personalities in the publics everyday life.

Some books and websites which the author included are;

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Breakenridge, D. (2009). PR 2.0, New Media New Tools, New audiences. FT
Press

Brown, R. (2009). Public Relations and The Social Web: how to use social
media and web 2.0 in communications. Kogan Page Ltd

Jackman, B. (2011). Social Media and The Sports Star. [online], available:
http://www.emeraldrugby.com/News/Blogs/Bernard/Social-media-and-
the-sports-star.aspx [accessed 30th Dec 2011]

Franklin et al., (2009) Key Concepts In Public Relations.1st ed. Sage
Publications

3.3 Primary Research
The authors main information gathered was done using interviews

 Interviews
“With qualitative research interviews you try to understand something
from the subjects point
of view and to uncover the meaning of their experiences. Interviews allow
people to convey to others a situation from their own perspective and in their
own words. Although the research interview may not lead to objective
information, it captures many of the subjects’ views on something.
That’s why the basic subject matter is not, as in qualitative research, object
data, but consists of meaningful relations to be interpreted”. ( Kvale 1996)

The interviews were carried out with rugby personalities and PR consultants,
the interviews were then carefully written so as to allow for the most in-depth
answers which could then be analysed and tied in with the authors other
findings. The author realised that it was of the utmost importance to give both
open and guiding questions in these questionnaires so as to get the most honest
and expansive answers.

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Interviews were done with rugby players Bernard Jackman (ex Ireland &
Leinster) along with ex Ireland and Munster player Alan Quinlan. These are
active twitter users both new and experienced and were an ideal base on which
to build the authors dissertation.

Some sample questions which were asked of the players and the PR
professionals were;

 Why did you start using Twitter?
 What is the reason you are using Twitter?
 Have you encountered any problems on Twitter?
 Do you see Twitter becoming too much of a self-promotion tool?


Interviews, the author believes are the best way to gain the most insight into
this particular topic as it is a relatively new phenomenon and very little
research has been conducted on it. The author has gained a unique and
firsthand viewpoint on this from those most associated to it and this research
was then accumulated to produce a body of work which is be fresh, insightful
and of benefit to those within the sports and PR industry.

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3.4 Intended conclusion from research
The author after doing all the research, literature reviews and interviews then
accumulated all the information into a comprehensive, understandable and
informative read which is of benefit of all involved within the sports industry
be it in a professional or purely enjoyable aspect. The author believes that all
who read it will come away with a clearer understanding of how social media
is shaping and changing the relationship between sports personalities and their
publics and also between sports personalities and the PR industry. The author
has also gained an understanding of where this phenomenon is going and how
it could be best utilised within their own industry. The area of PR and sports is
one that has always gone hand in hand and now it is just a matter of adjusting
both to suit each other’s needs and to reflect the changing times.

3.5 Bibliography
Baban, Serwan M.J. (2009)

Research: The Journey from Pondering to Publishing. UWI Press.

Agee,Warren K, Ault, Philip H, Cameron, Glen T, Wilcox. Dennis L (2003).

Public Relations, Strategies and Tactics. Allyn and Bacon

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4 SECONDARY RESEARCH
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4.1 !Introduction
This chapter takes a brief look at what social networking is how it is used and
is changing our everyday lives, its force as a communicative tool and its
constant changing landscape.

Twitter will be defined and its affect will be examined on our culture and
society, explain why sports personalities are using it and how the public is
reacting to its usage by these personalities.

The growth in the use of Twitter by rugby internationals will also be studied
and comparisons drawn to highlight the difference in opinion of various
national teams. There are also five simple rules for sports stars to follow
before they use Twitter. Finally the author will look at Twitter and the rugby
personality, some issues which are negative about the use of Twitter by rugby
personalities will also be examined.

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4.2 Social Networking
Social networking is the natural extension of the concept of the original
internet; it really started according to Brown (Brown 2009) in 1995 when
Classmates.com was launched in the United States and in just ten years
achieved over 40 million users. These social networks have developed into
online communities and are used by tens of millions of people worldwide
daily. There are numerous different social network sites across the globe and
they are used by up to 500 million people. A major trend in social networking
according to Johnston (Stephen Johnston as cited in Breakenridge 2009) is the
integration of the real and the virtual world. Johnston states that micro
blogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write extremely short text-
only blogs, usually restricted to a maximum of 140 characters and can be
shared publically or restricted to be read by one particular group, among these
micro blogging sites are Twitter and the ‘status’ section on Facebook. It is this
networking that allows users to interact about common interests, achievements
or ideas.

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4.3 !Twitter
Twitter.com explains Twitter as a real-time information network that connects
you to the latest information about what you find!interesting. At the heart of
Twitter are small bursts of information called tweets.!!Each Tweet is 140
characters in length, connected to each Tweet is a rich details pane that
provides additional information, deeper context and embedded media. You can
tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline,
and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos, videos and other media
content. You can contribute, or just listen in and retrieve up to the second
information. (www.twitter.com 2011)

In his book, Brown (Brown 2009) sees Twitter as a personal newswire that
allows users to write a maximum of 140 characters which can then be
uploaded by means of SMS texts of from a PC. He talks of twitter as of
considerable importance to the future of PR because of its importance in
building groups of influential followers and building unique relationships
within your chosen groups. The instantaneous nature of it is also very
attractive according to Brown as it allows for an insight into a users everyday
movements and actions.

Rio Ferdinand, Man Utd and England football player and Twitter exponent
says;

“I just embraced it. At that time I was a bit sceptical of new things and
products, but it’s a really good way of interacting with fans and people and
shaping your image and avoiding giving a perception out to people of
something that isn’t really true through a media outlet that doesn’t really know
you...That appealed to me and I’ve started to get a better response, even just
walking to the shop, because people see that you are normal”. (British
Broadcasting Corporation, Social Media & Sport 2011)

As Tom Fox (2008) who writes for Setanta Sports says on the Blog site
simply Zesty, sports stars today are more accessible than they ever have been
in the modern era. Fans have never had such an insight into the minds of their

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favourite athletes thanks to Twitter and many sports stars can be quite prolific
tweeters. Like any celebrity status, there is a mystique about sports stars; a
fervent thirst for more knowledge on them.

The benefits to the sports personalities are obvious too as Fox reasons whilst
many professional athletes are genuine fans of Twitter as a tool, how many use
it to build their brand? They push you to things like their sponsors and
personal ventures. The increased accessibility of athletes coupled with the
personal touch that twitter brings makes it easy for professional athletes to
promote themselves and their products. The key is that they don’t simply use
Twitter to promote themselves or their brand. There must be some interaction
and valuable information in there. Ultimately, sports and social media look a
perfect match. Social media provides the platforms where people can share and
discuss this passion with people of a similar disposition. Social media
provides access not only to great sporting content but also to the athletes
themselves

4.4 !Twitter & Rugby

Rugby union is one of the world’s fastest growing team sports and is played
across the globe by both men and women. It has grown from just a small level
game to a now multi-billion euro industry. This year’s rugby world cup saw
an unprecedented rise in viewing figures and sponsorship.RNZ 2011
announced in September 2006 that hosting RWC 2011 will generate more than
NZ$1.15 billion in total economic activity, and pump more than half a billion
dollars into the New Zealand economy, according to an economic impact
report prepared by Horwath Asia Pacific Ltd and RWC 2011 is estimated to
add NZ$507 million to New Zealand’s gross domestic product. Record
viewing figures were set as 1.97 million viewers tuned in to the RWC final in
New Zealand and in France it gained a 73% share of the TV audience. (Rugby
World Cup 2011)

Across the world new teams and leagues are emerging as the sport grows and
expands, from the U.S.A to India to England. According to the Sporting
Goods Manufacturers Association it is the fastest growing team sport in
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America and in 2010 the numbers playing grew from 750,000 to 1.13 million
as reported by Tom Geoghegan, BBC News, New York, (BBC UK 2011) and
in England it is the fastest growing sport in the country also according to the
Rugby Football Union. (RFU 2011)

According to Michael R.Real (2008 p14-17) the scale of mediated sports is
exploding globally and is seen in the rise of sports shows, magazines, internet
sites and sports marketing. There is a public obsession with sports that spills
into our everyday lives and has an effect on how we manage our schedules and
social lives to interact with sporting events. He also argues that commercial
television and its value system of profit seeking, marketing, sponsorship and
competition have changed the face of modern sports and have led to this new
age of sports and media being interlinked.

As a natural progression from this we have the age of social media and sports
stars, rugby players have become in their own right ‘celebrities’ and with this
comes a need to reach their audience. Klapp as quoted in Mediasport (1962
p137) states that athletic heroes have degenerated into mere celebrities whilst
Barney and Barney (1989 Wenner p137) argues that sports stars become
heroes because of their performances, morality and social responsibility.
Franklin (Franklin et al., 2009) defines celebrity as a person who is widely
recognised and who commands both public and media attention. Other types
of fame are almost certain to guarantee a level of celebrity, people such as
actors, musicians or athletes achieve this.

At the rugby World Cup in New Zealand of 2011 there was a new
phenomenon, which was Twitter; at the previous World Cup in 2007 it had not
even been launched yet within four days of the start of the tournament Twitter
mentions had reached 24,000. (John Fell 2011).

Management from the various competing countries each had their own way to
police the use of twitter by the players, Graham Henry the New Zealand coach
banned the use of twitter entirely throughout the tournament stating “We

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haven’t had a policy up till now, We’ve just asked them to make good
decisions about that and, in the All Blacks camp, most of the time, they’ve
made good decisions, but, at Rugby World Cup time, zilch.” This ploy may
have added to the success of New Zealand who went on to win the tournament.

England coach Martin Johnson considers Twitter a dirty word and has made it
clear that any player who steps out of line on a social network may "not be an
England player for very long." Asked by the BBC whether he'd join the
'Twitterati', Johnson was typically forthright: "Don't hold your
breath." (Twitter Commandments for Rugby Players 2011). The English team
meanwhile were allowed the use of twitter provided they used common sense
and did not write anything controversial, paradoxically the English team
crashed out spectacularly after one of their worst ever World Cup showings.

The Irish team, after agreement with management were allowed to tweet with
certain restrictions in place, Irish team manager Paul McNaughton stated that
whilst the IRFU had no problem with the use of twitter it was considered that it
could be a distraction to the players and all parties had agreed to limit the use
of it around match time. (The Score 2011) This came in the wake of a war of
words between some tweeters and three Irish Internationals after Irish captain
Brian O’Driscoll was singled out for criticism and told to retire by a tweeter,
fellow internationals Cian Healy and Jamie Heaslip took to twitter to vilify this
tweeter and defend their teammate , @jamieheaslip tweeted “if u got
something bad to say, go somewhere else or unfollow...” whilst
@ProperChurch (Cian Healy) tweeted “take your negativity elsewhere please
or don’t bother following...”. (Joe.ie 2011)

Bernard Jackman, former Irish rugby international writes in (Social Media and
The sports Star 2011) that rugby is competing with so many other sports that it
is important that the players keep in touch with their fan base, once guidelines
are put in place by management about its use then players are to be trusted in
what they decide to tweet. Many of the current Irish team are active on twitter
at the moment and include Paul O’Connell (Irish Captain), Sean O’Brien, Rory

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Best, Brian O’Driscoll, Jamie Heaslip and Cian Healy. (Welsh Rugby Blog
2011)

Clay Travis, ( Outkick the Coverage 2011) an American sports writer and
journalist has also written on the subject and believes that, every sports star on
Twitter is their own news network and the use of Twitter empowers the
individual as no other media tool before. He also would argue that there are
tens of billions of dollars in Twitter revenue coming and it is up to each sports
star and agency to be prepared for this and to work towards harnessing it.

On the subject of sports stars using Twitter, Jacob Share (2010) gives his five
simple rules on which should be followed;

1) Know how to use Twitter Accidently sending an incriminating message as
a public tweet has different consequences when you have tens of thousands of
followers, and many more fans beyond those. So take the little bit of time
necessary to get comfortable with Twitter on your computer and/or your smart
phone.

2) Get your Twitter account Okayed by your agent Your agent is your
salesman. If you might do anything that impacts your value (positively or
negatively) in the eyes of your boss and future bosses, your agent needs to
know, at the very least so they can advise you how to increase your results or
minimize the damage. Also, if being on Twitter is very important to you; your
agent can negotiate it into your contract.

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3) Get your Twitter account Okayed by team management If your coach or
anyone else in management is going to have a problem with your tweets, you’ll
want to know ASAP, or else your agent might be called in. They might just
have a policy you need to follow, since many teams really do think players’
tweeting is a good thing, within reason.

4) Know what the league rules are for using Twitter and then follow those
rules. Your pay may be so high that a €25,000 fine means nothing, but being a
rich player tweeting about money is guaranteed to make your life worse.

5) Do not tweet about anyone else on your team unless they are also on
Twitter and can respond. Otherwise, not about your coach, not your
teammates, no one in the organization. This is one time where focusing on
yourself and what’s happening in your playing career is really what interests
people the most. If you want to ruin your reputation with careless tweets,
that’s your choice. Don’t drag anyone else in with you.

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5 FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

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5.1 Primary Research
Primary research was done using interviews and email interviews on a number
of people. The aim was to discover how rugby personalities are utilising
Twitter to target their publics and also how the PR community has reacted to
the use of Twitter by said personalities.

Interviews took place with ex Ireland and Leinster rugby player Bernard
Jackman and ex Ireland and Munster player Alan Quinlan. Bernard is now a
rugby analyst on RTE and BBC Wales as well as a columnist with the Carlow
Nationalist, Irish Examiner and a rugby blog post for Betpack. He is also head
coach for Tullow RFC senior team and has written a very well received
autobiography entitled Blue Blood published in 2010 which reached the best
sellers list in Ireland.

Alan Quinlan now works as a brand ambassador for the Ulster Bank league as
well as being a regular columnist for rugby in the Irish Times; he also works as
a rugby analyst and pundit for Sky Sports. In 2010 he released his much
acclaimed autobiography ‘Red Blooded’ which charts his rise to the top of the
professional rugby game. Alan also devotes a lot of his time now supporting
the Positive Mental Health campaign in Ireland with www.leanonme.net.

Email interviews were sent to Michael O’Keeffe, Miriam Donohoe and
Marcus O‘Buachalla and all three responded very kindly and promptly.

Michael O’Keeffe is the managing director of Pembroke Communications in
Dublin, Michael is an avid rugby and sports fan and among his clients are
Leinster Rugby. The specialities of Pembroke Communications include Sports
PR and Sponsorship so Michael was an ideal person to contact in relation to
the questionnaire.

Another email interview was forwarded to Miriam Donohoe who is the owner
of MD Media, a PR and Media Consultancy based in Kilkenny. Miriam is
also a former news editor at the Sunday Tribune as well as working for a
number of years at The Irish Independent and Irish Times. The author
believed Miriam would be ideal because of her background in media and

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knowing how sports personalities use the media to promote themselves as well
as her vast experience in the PR industry.

Marcus O’Buachalla is a sports presenter on Newstalk, in the Irish Daily Star
and commentates on matches for TG4 and 3e. He also works in PR as his day
to day job with contributions to www.irishmediawatch.ie. As such he was an
ideal candidate to approach for my email interview.

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5.2 Email interview with Michael O’Keeffe
(Managing Director of Pembroke Communications)

Q1: Are you a follower of rugby players/ personalities on Twitter?

I follow a number of the Irish rugby players, Tommy Bowe, Jamie Heaslip,
Cian Healy, Rob Kearney and Brian O’Driscoll in particular. I follow Leinster
Rugby and other official Twitter accounts.

Q2 What are your reasons for following them?

I like to hear what they have to say about their lives outside of rugby. From a
work perspective it is also important I see what they are doing and how they
treat sponsors. If you are not following, then you may also miss some
breaking news.

Q3 Does it allow for personal interaction with rugby personalities/
players?

Not unless you know them personally. Players do not tend to engage with
general public and tend to only follow each other and other sports stars on
twitter.

Q4 Would you often engage with the rugby players online?

Rarely or Never

Q5 What would put you off following players?

Players who put up irrelevant information and become indulgent. I also find
“in” jokes off putting. Players need to be engaging, offering interesting

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personal insights into how they are feeling before or after a game. What they
are eating or their views on TV shows are not that interesting.

Q6 Do you find many rugby players / personalities are becoming too
commercial in their use of Twitter?

I don’t think so. In fairness most have stayed away from this. However,
Brian O’Driscoll can be quite commercial at times.

Q7 Is Twitter becoming too much of a self-promotion tool?

It has changed a little from being a personal communications channel to a
promotional tool and some sports stars see it this way.

Q8 What are the problems facing PR companies who are contracted with
rugby personalities who use Twitter?

A player who abuses other players, referees or fans on Twitter is a liability.
However, a good ambassador contract covers areas like this.

Q9 How do you think the PR industry has reacted to the advent of
Twitter?

Twitter and all forms of social media are now part of most if not all our media
campaigns when using sports stars for promotional purposes or promoting an
event or competition.

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5.3 Email interview with Marcus O’Buachalla
(Sports presenter on Newstalk, Columnist in the Irish Daily Star and
commentator on matches for TG4 and 3)


Yes


I am interested in most things sporting and in particular the ins and outs of
being a sportsperson. From training regimes, to gear, to diet etc.

players?

Not really. Of all the times that I have reacted to a tweet from a rugby
personality only a few have answered “Off the cuff” – what I mean by that is
that my question was not part of a planned session of Q&A with fans that a lot
of sports personalities do. Of the current players that have replied, Brian
O’Driscoll replied with regard to the modifications on his Adidas boots. Peter
O’Mahony also replied to a tweet that I sent him. Bernard Jackman the former
player is also very responsive. But in general they have the banter with fellow
players, but little else.


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If I see something that interests me, yes. I will retweet or I may even ask a
question but getting a reply is another matter!!


If it was overly commercial – or very obviously being run by a PR person
rather than the individual! As someone in the industry they can be spotted a
mile off…I won’t name and shame!!


No, not really. I think that most follow the American model and that is fine i.e.
using a hash tag to let people know that this tweet is on behalf of a sponsor.
But I think that anyone on Twitter should realise that these accounts will be
used by commercial entities to raise awareness of their product. It’s the trade
off I suppose so it doesn’t bother me as long as it is not every second tweet.


It depends. There are some Twitter accounts that I follow that do nothing
more than update when the next event is on, when the next opening is and
where the product can be got. These accounts are missing the point in my
opinion. Twitter accounts should be engaging and informative and need not
100% of the time relate to the person or the product.

rugby personalities who use Twitter?

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Control. If my client sponsors rugby player Mr. X, depending on the level of
association between my client and Mr X, the fallout from a controversial tweet
could hit my client. The whole idea of Twitter is that it is spontaneous and
from the account holder, not from some PR fella in an office, so for that to
happen, the sponsor needs to trust Mr X. This trust is well placed most of the
time as rugby professionals in Ireland are by and large media savvy but you
can see with a lot of the English rugby players tweets and also tweets from
soccer players, that their level of awareness might not be what a sponsor is
looking for. It is no surprise that not many sponsors go near Joey Barton for
example. A recent Irish example of what can happen was the chef Rachel
Allen who used Twitter (or maybe Facebook) to upload a picture of her after a
day hunting pheasant. The issue? The dead birds were placed on the bonnet of
her Audi jeep – a sponsored Audi jeep. And this picture was carried in most
national papers.

Q9 How do you think the PR industry has reacted to the advent of
Twitter?

Slowly! Clients and indeed some PR companies don’t appreciate how effective
a tool it can be. The common statement is, “well they are on Twitter (or
Facebook) so we need to be”… Once you go live you need to have a strategy
and a plan and clearly defined targets for what you/your client wants to
achieve. Having an account on Twitter won’t do much for you unless you are
actively engaging with people and it is that part that so many PR companies
and their clients are not doing right. The traditional PR world is changing –
print media is facing a critical few years – and social media will continue to
play a bigger and bigger role.

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5.4 Email Interview with Miriam Donohoe
(Managing Director of MD Media)


Yes I am even though I am not a major rugby fan. I follow Brian O’Driscoll,
Tommy Bowe and Rob Kearney.


Because they are so well known and because I think it gives me an insight into
their personalities. I am also curious about how big personalities, whether they
be sporting or otherwise, engage on Twitter.

players?

I have only once personally sought interaction with players - but I have seen
how many do interact with fans which I think is great. It really gives the fan a
way of connecting with their heroes which is nice.


I don’t engage with them as such, I just observe and watch. Although last
week I did tweet some of the big Irish rugby stars from my MD Media PR
account asking them to retweet a tweet about the Carlow Tag Rugby Festival
coming up in June. The club is attempting to break the World Record for most
teams taking part in a tournament with proceeds going to charity. But I got no
response! I am presuming that is because the tweet came from a PR company
account. If the request had come from the Tag Rugby Account they may have
been more successful.

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If they got abusive or overly smart with fans. I haven’t come across that yet!


No. One of the reasons they are on Twitter is for commercial gain and players
use Twitter to endorse brands they are contracted with. But I have no problem
with that personally. It’s part of the game!


No its very essence is that it’s a self-promotion tool. Whether promoting
yourself, your opinions, your business or your products. That’s what Twitter
does.

rugby personalities on Twitter?

I don’t think it’s a problem for PR companies. If they are clever they should
build into their strategies how Twitter can be used to build up their player’s
personalities and profiles and to see how Twitter can be used to deliver for
brands the players are associated with. They should look at it as a positive
rather than a negative.

Q9 How has the PR world reacted to the advent of Twitter?

More and more PR companies are seeing that Twitter is an invaluable (and
free!) marketing tool. I think any PR company that decides to ignore Twitter
does so at their peril. You simply can’t ignore it in this digital age and most PR
campaigns now build in Twitter and social media as another platform, outside
of print and broadcast, to get the clients message out to a worldwide audience.

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5.5 Interview with Bernard Jackman
(Rugby analyst on RTE and BBC Wales)

Q1 Why did you initially join Twitter?

I was slow to join it to be honest but then found it was a great way to get up to
date sports news and links to athletes and high performers that I admire. I
started following the golfers when Grame Mc Dowell won the US Masters and
had cool photos of boarding his private jet; it was an insight to the world of the
elite sportsmen. I just followed for the first while without tweeting but then
started to tweet links to interesting articles I had come across about rugby and
it became interactive. I started then to chat live to people which felt great and
often took part in group discussions.

Q2 Do you have a personal & sporting account?

No just my own one in my own name.

Q3 Do you find twitter a useful tool for engaging with your fans?

It is great for opening up a forum, for example, if I tweeted Ireland are great,
and what do you think? I would receive replies and different opinion; it would
be boring if everybody agreed. I have gotten business out of it to be honest, I
may have answered someone and next thing they are looking for a guest
speaker. It has been really good to be to be honest but only in a small way, I
have turned it into revenue and made it work for me.

Q4 Do you use it just for personal use or business?

Originally it was just for personal use but now because I write for the
Examiner and a weekly blog for the betting firm Betpack as well as being
contracted to RTE radio and television I use it to promote myself. I let people
know when I will be on TV and radio and add value to the media outlets that

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are using me and paying me, and heighten awareness about my commentary
and punditry.

Q5 Does it feel strange having so many followers wondering about your
everyday life?

I try not to think about it and I never talk about my family or put up pictures
of them, at one stage I had that thing that puts up your location but someone
told me it would be a good idea to turn off that so I did. I do some quick
Q&A’s, last week I was coming back from Cardiff after working for BBC
Wales and was stuck in the airport for two hours so I tweeted did anyone want
to do a Q&A session, so spent the next two hours answering questions, I got a
lot of followers from Wales out of it. I use it mainly for selfish reasons, that is
to boost my own profile.

Q6 Have you encountered any problems on Twitter?

No but I know some of the lads were getting abuse, Brian O’Driscoll got abuse
before after Ireland lost a game and even last week Conor Mortimer the Mayo
footballer who I would be pally with got abused on it. I know a lot of people
just go on Twitter to try and get a rise out of people also there was horrendous
racism against Stan Collymore ( ex Liverpool footballer), he retweeted some of
the tweets he received telling him to hang himself because he suffers from
depression, horrendous. You have to be strong enough to know these people
are small minded; I wouldn’t let that stop me from using it you know.

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Q7 Would you use your twitter account to endorse products?

Yes, I have a sponsored car from BMW, Joe Duffy motors so they would send
me stuff that is happening around their garage and I would retweet it. They
only have a couple of hundred followers so I do that, also when I was still
playing I was with Puma so I always mentioned them and I still promote the
betting website and the Examiner things like that.

Q8 Do you see yourself staying on twitter?

Yeah yeah I will, amazingly we were playing in the Towns Cup on Sunday
(Tullow) and by using hash tag Towns Cup I got all the live scores from all
around, I never had that before so for live news it is incredible.

Q9 Are Leinster and Ireland coaches giving guidelines for the usage of
twitter?

Yeah there is 24hr ban both before and after games, I think it is common
across all provinces. If for example a guy gets up and says he is sick on Twitter
then the other team knows he is not playing or whatever, and after a game
there may be emotions if something went wrong during a game something
could be said on the spur of the moment or give out about the referee or
whatever. That 24hrs gives these guys breathing space to get their emotions in
check.

Q10 Do you see Twitter becoming too commercial and just being a self
promoting tool?

I suppose there has to be a balance, I read an article today which said that you
can buy followers which is crazy and expensive, you can buy 20,000 followers
or whatever and people are doing it, Michael Jackson apparently bought
followers, I don’t know why he had to!. Listen if I was following someone
and they continuously endorsed stuff I would stop following them, there has to
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be a balance, if there is just an odd comment endorsing a product fine but if all
they are doing is endorsing I would not follow them , that is a personal choice,
you know?

Q11 Some celebrities pay people to manage their accounts, do you look
after your own?

(Lots of laughing) If I was a celebrity I would pay someone, no listen if you
hand it over to someone else it is not going to be you, do you know what I
mean?

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5.6 Interview with Alan Quinlan
(Irish times columnist and Sky Sports pundit)

Q Why did you Join Twitter?

I joined because I was going to New Zealand to cover the World Cup and I had
recently finished playing rugby in May. Going into broadcasting and the
media I wanted to know more about Twitter, I didn’t really know anything
about it ha ha. I knew you could post messages and that stuff so I wanted to let
people know how I was getting on in my new life as a broadcaster and working
as a commentator for ITV in New Zealand, that’s how it started really, I sent a
few tweets from there but got a bit lazy with it. I had heard the other players
talking about it over the years and going into the media and doing some
corporate stuff I wanted to let people know what I was doing, and what the
new life was about. I don’t tweet about what I had for breakfast I can assure
you.

Q do you have a personal and a sporting account or just the one?

Just the one account I use because I write for the Irish Times as well so I tweet
about that or what matches I will be covering you know?

Q Is it more for personal use then or for your fans?

It’s a source of information but I also use it for personal use such as having a
bit of banter with the other rugby players and people I know as well, I have
become more confident on it.

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Q Do you see or have you encountered any problems on Twitter?

No I haven’t actually so far but I can see that being on social media there are
potential problems out there, you have to be very careful what you say on it.

Q Would you or have you used your twitter account to endorse products?

Not to endorse products but certainly to let people know about what I am
doing or who I am working for, I do a bit of work for Ladbrokes so I send a
few tweets and do a bit of promotional work for them but I would send tweets
about prices they are offering or promotions. Probably not to endorse products
but talking about stuff I would be doing. So probably promoting myself more
than anything.

Q So do you see yourself staying on Twitter?

No I will stay on it, it got to the stage where I became a bit addicted to it,
reading it all the time and checking what everyone else was saying. I will stay
on it but not so much, just a couple of tweets a week or when one of the lads
puts up something controversial I will slag them and stuff like that.

Q So what positives has Twitter given you?

Well I think it certainly helps me promote work I do and the work with Mental
Health I do, letting people know about work I will be doing with RTE, ITV or
SKY and appearances I will be making if anyone wants to meet me and stuff
like that. Plus I have a bit of banter with the boys and meet people I haven’t
met in years or talked to so it is a bit of fun as well.

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Q Do you see Twitter becoming too commercial and self promoting?

I don’t know to be honest, it’s a great way to communicate and you can only
put up short messages of 140 characters as you know and updates, I was never
a Facebook man and don’t have a huge opinion on it. I follow a lot of sports
stations and give match updates myself and follow them so I think it’s a good
thing.

Q Are you contracted to or represented by any PR firm?

No

Q Do you envisage any problems for PR firms representing clients on
Twitter?

I don’t see any problems really you know what I mean? If a company wants to
use a player and pay them its freedom, you are free to do what you want on
Twitter it’s your own personal account but if you are working for someone and
you promote them its fair game you know? But look you don’t want everyone
going on to Twitter for the wrong reasons, the reason Twitter is there is to let
people know where you are, what you are doing, a bit of banter, your opinions
on things as well. I see Stan Collymore (ex Liverpool soccer player and now
pundit) does a lot of work for depression and on Twitter as well, I let people
know when I am going to be on the TV or radio so if they want to listen to me
they can.

Q Do you know about any restrictions of Twitter use with Munster?

I never asked to be honest but I know with Ireland it is twenty four hours
before and after matches so I presume it is the same. Most lads know to check
these things out and use common sense you know?

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Q Is there any media training given to players?

Absolutely not, most of the coaches don’t even know what Twitter is, they are
not used to it either, six months ago I didn’t know what it was either only for it
was recommended to me going to New Zealand to follow the lads and players
to see what was going on.

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5.7 Findings

5.8 Rugby personalities:
Ex international rugby player Bernard Jackman has taken to Twitter in a much
personalised way, he used it initially to just follow sports stars he admired but
eventually started to tweet himself. He started using it purely for personal
interests at first but realised its potential then. His initial tweets were about
articles he had read or information about sport he found interesting. Then as
he became more adept at using Twitter he realised it was a way to promote and
market himself. Bernard said in the interview that he has often found work
through his twitter account and uses it as well to build up hype and awareness
about appearances he will be making or articles he has written.

Bernard admits too that he will endorse products on it but believes there has to
be a balance between pure self promotion and being interesting to follow. That
is why he often engages in Q&A sessions via his Twitter account, it builds his
profile, gets him followers but also as he says, it gets other opinions because if
everyone always agreed it would be boring. He is always looking for ways to
use Twitter to his advantage and will stay using it as it ‘amazes him’ how it
feeds live news.

5.9 PR Professionals:
The PR consultants I questioned had very strong views also on the use of
Twitter by rugby personalities. They all followed various players and coaches
but all agreed that in general it was very much a one way street as most would
not respond to questions or tweets. There were a couple of exceptions to this
though; Peter O’Mahony and Brian O’Driscoll had replied once but very
interestingly Bernard Jackman was found to be “very responsive”. This is a
direct link to the way Bernard Jackman viewed using Twitter and ‘playing the
game’ as he said to me when we spoke after the recording, he told me that he
always respected the media and the general public because he recognised that
he wanted to enter the world of punditry and media when he retired and people
remembered how he had treated them.

Michael O’Keefee is an avid sports fan and follows many rugby personalities
both from a personal interest viewpoint but also for the fact that he needs to
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keep abreast of what is happening in relation to PR. He will follow these
people as long as they stay engaging and interesting but not if they become too
commercial and use Twitter to just blatantly endorse various products.
Michael does recognise though that sports personalities and social media are
now part of the PR world and they need to work together. One of the problems
he does envisage though is the misuse of Twitter by personalities who might
say something which could be damaging or insulting to a PR firm but he said a
good “ambassador contract” will cover that. [Ambassador Agreements are
legal documents that guide the behavior and responsibilities of a corporate
spokesperson and the company that he represents]

Marcus O’Buachalla points out that there are some accounts of personalities
which are quite obviously run by PR firms on their behalf and he has no time
for these. He says that Twitter accounts need to be engaging and interesting
and not just commercial or else they are missing the point, he also stated that
the biggest problem facing PR is ‘control’, he went on to explain that PR firms
who have clients on Twitter have to maintain certain restraint and try and make
sure they are media savvy.

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5.10 Limitations
The author throughout this assignment came across problems both small and
large, some of these proved to be most troublesome whilst others were easily
overcome. The smaller ones included; finding literature which provided
information on chosen subject as it is a relatively new area and defining the
search area and overall topic as it changed constantly as the work progressed.
These were overcome by extensive research and allowing greater freedom of
research subject, this gave a much broader scope to subject that had originally
been anticipated.

The most pressing problem throughout was finding suitable subjects to
interview and even more difficult was getting in contact and receiving replies
from said contacts. Overall the response was excellent when these subjects
were eventually reached and the replies gave great credence to the work. Irish
international Sean O’Brien proved to be elusive throughout even after phone
calls and meetings, as he was in the middle of the Six Nations rugby
tournament. Time and time again the author tried to pin him down but to no
avail and eventually when the author managed to talk to him it was too tight on
time.

However all these problems were eventually overcome and worked around, it
took just time,patience and flexibility.

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6 CONCLUSIONS
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6.1 Conclusions
Retired rugby players are becoming very media savvy and have learned to
utilise Twitter to promote both themselves and products or companies they are
involved with. Keeping their followers informed of what they are doing is
vital to maintaining their profile and getting new work and followers. It is a
way to manage their own PR if you will and engage with the publics in a way
they were not able to before. These personalities are now accessible as never
before and engage with fans on a much more personal level. The personalities
recognise the advantages of Twitter and the need to remain in the public eye at
all times both to self- promote and be informative. What they also recognise is
the importance of Twitter as an up to date news feed, with results of matches,
sports related happenings and fans opinions being vital to keeping them
informed. When all these things are taken into account the personalities are
then ‘current’, informed and knowledgeable so as to pass this information on
to their own and other followers.

The PR profession have also embraced social media and Twitter and
recognised the importance of keeping abreast of all new media. It is used by
PR consultants for both professional and private interests. The private uses
however cross over to professional uses, as keeping informed and aware of
who is doing what will be vital in their place of work.

Some problems which the industry professionals envisaged are; control of
what is said by clients of theirs or someone associated to their client, this can
be difficult because of the spontaneity of Twitter and the freedom of it.
Keeping staff and themselves up to date is another potential problem with extra
time and resources needed for both. Other companies and clients have also not
reacted quickly enough to the advent of Twitter and failed to utilise or
recognise its importance.

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The positives to be gained within the PR industry are many according to the
professionals, first and foremost it is free and available to all to use as they see
fit for campaigns and clients. It gives another dimension to PR campaigns and
if used correctly can improve the overall campaign to reach a wider audience.
It also can be updated frequently and as such allows for the publics to be
constantly informed and aware about what is happening with any given client
or campaign.

Overall the author found that Twitter has been embraced by both the PR
industry and rugby personalities along with many others. It is in the opinion of
all ‘here to stay’ and will be continued to be used and utilised to its full
potential for both personal and professional reasons. It is a two way system
with information being fed in and received whilst being filtered for whatever
use deemed necessary. Twitter has been adopted by all walks of life and
adapted by many for a variety of reasons so it will continue to a vital source of
information and news for the foreseeable future according to the interviewees.

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7 RECOMMENDATIONS
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7.1 Recommendations
The author, after conducting interviews with rugby personalities and PR
professionals has a number of recommendations which could be carried out on
this subject;

o Media and social media training to be given to all professional sports
persons as this would allow for greater contact with their publics and be
used as a base for themselves to work within the media industry as
pundits/ journalists when their professional sports careers end.

o Appointed spokespersons in each professional team to be responsible
each month in dealing with social media duties. This would actively
encourage the interaction of players and fans and also create an identity
for each player with their publics.

o Restrictions to be placed on the use of Twitter and social media by
professional sportspersons to allow for full concentration on duties and
matches for twenty four hours both before and after games.

o PR firms and consultants to embrace new media and technology, this
would be in the interest of the PR professionals, their clients and the
public.

o Training time and monies to be allocated to keeping PR consultants up
to date with all new media advances and how to use it effectively in
campaigns.

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o PR firms need to constantly monitor social media sites to be aware of
any news or happenings of which they should be aware. This would
serve the purpose of knowing what competitors are doing, of knowing
where to aim any future campaigns and trends that are occurring.

o PR firms should use Twitter to follow as many people as possible to
keep abreast of what is happening in all walks of life and react quickly
to any negative comments or happenings instantly.

o PR clients need to be kept informed also of all new media and the
possible impact it could have on their business or campaigns. There is
little point in running a social media campaign for any client who could
undo any good work with the push of a button or a misplaced comment.

o Further research into the use of Twitter for both professional rugby
players and the PR industry is highly recommended as this landscape
changes daily and new trends emerge all the time.

o Guidelines and rules need to be adapted by both industries to
counteract any negativity Twitter could bring.

o Governments need to look at the possibility of cyber-bullying being a
real issue for its peoples and would need to review how much freedom
these sites and its users have.

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8 REFERENCES &
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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8.1 References
BBC. Social Media & Sport. (2011). [online] available:
http://www.theuksportsnetwork.com/tag/bbc [accessed Dec 20th 2011]

Blog.o2. (2011). Twitter commandments for famous rugby players. [online],
available: http://blog.o2.co.uk/home/2011/01/5-twitter-commandments-for-
famous-rugby-players.html [accessed on 1st Jan 2012]

Breakenridge, D. (2009). PR 2.0, New Media New Tools,New audiences. FT
Press

Brown, R. (2009). Public Relations And The Social Web: how to use social
media and web 2.0 in communications. Kogan Page Ltd

Fell, J. (2011). Social Media And The 2011 Rugby World Cup. [online],
available: http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/09/social-media-at-
the-2011-rugby-world-cup/ [accessed 28th Dec 2011]

Fox, T. (2010). How social media is changing the sports landscape. [online],
available: http://www.simplyzesty.com/technology/sports/social-media-
changing-sports-media-landscape/ [accessed 2nd Jan 2012]

Franklin et al., (2009) Key Concepts In Public Relations.1st ed. Sage
Publications

Jackman, B. (2011). Social Media and The Sports Star. [online], available:
http://www.emeraldrugby.com/News/Blogs/Bernard/Social-media-and-
the-sports-star.aspx [accessed 30th Dec 2011]

Joe.ie. (2011). Irish Rugby Stars Involved In Twitter Row. [online], available:
http://joe.ie/rugby/rugby-news/irish-rugby-stars-involved-in-twitter-row-
0010066-1 [accessed 4th Jan 2012]

Geoghegan, T. (2011). Could Rugby Union Take Off In the U.S.? [online],
available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14725789 [accessed 28th
Dec 2011]
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Mc Laren, D. (2011). Social Media & Sport. [online], available:
http://www.theuksportsnetwork.com/social-media-sport-programme-on-bbc-5-
live. [accessed 28th Dec 2011]

Share, J. (2011). Twitter for Sports Stars: 5 Simple Rules to Follow. [online],
available: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/twitter-for-sports-stars-5-
simple-rules-to-follow/ [accessed 30th Dec 2011]

Rowe, David,C. (2003). Sport, Culture and the Media; The Unruly Trinity.
ebray.com [online], available:
http://0site.ebrary.com.www.library.itcarlow.ie/lib/itcarlow//docDetail.action?
docID=10175213. [Accessed 20th Dec 2011]

Rugby World Cup, (2011). RNZ 2011 Fact Sheet. [online], available:
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/destinationnewzealand/aboutrnz/factsheet.htm
l. [Accessed 28thdec 2011]

The Score. (2011). Rugby stars agree to Twitter blackout. [online], available:
http://www.thescore.ie/rugby-stars-agree-to-twitter-blackout-2011-03/
[accessed 29th Dec 2011]

Travis,C. (2011). 2011 Belonged To Twitter. So Does The Future Of Sports
Media. [online], available:
http://outkickthecoverage.com/fsearch.php?cn=twitter. [Accessed 4thJan
2012]

Welsh Rugby Blog. (2011) Rugby Players on Twitter. [online], available:
http://welshrugbyblog.co.uk/rugby-players-on-twitter/ [accessed 29th Dec
2011]

Wenner, Lawrence, A. (1998). Mediasport. ebray.com. [online] available:
http://0-
site.ebrary.com.www.library.itcarlow.ie/lib/itcarlow//docDetail.action?docID=
10054761 [accessed 20th Dec 2011)

Steinar, Kvale (1996) Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research
Interviewing. Sage Publications

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Business dictionary, 2012 [online] available:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/questionnaire.html [accessed
Dec 2011]

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8.2 Bibliography
Brockmeier, J. (2011). 10 Tips on Using Twitter. [online] available:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/12/10-tips-on-using-twitter-
wisel.php [accessed 3rd Jan 2012]

Keane, K. (2011). Twitter feels the heat as rugby stars feel the cold. [online]
available: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/twitter-feels-the-heat-as-
rugby-stars-feel-the-cold-2865793.html [accessed 28thDec 2011]

Mc. Laren, D. (2012). UKSN/ Social Media & Sport. [online] available:
http://www.theuksportsnetwork.com/live-event-feed [accessed 3rd Jan
2012]

RFU.com. (2011). Rugby’s Core Values. [online] available:
http://www.rfu.com/TheGame/CoreValues [accessed 2nd Jan 2012]

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