The perils of controlling a message in online era
THE BEST WORLD CUP ANALYSIS —
HIS Spanish team’s recordbreaking performance in their World Cup opener had already caused a bit of a stir, but Luis Enrique was about to hog the limelight. And it wasn’t because of the stunning display against Costa Rica. He had just been asked whether he thought players should have sex during the tournament.
‘It’s something I consider totally normal,’ he said before adding, ‘I mean, if you are at an orgy the night before the game, that will not be ideal.’
The unusual thing about Enrique’s words is that they weren’t delivered in the staid environment of the obligatory post-match press conference, but rather on the manager’s own live stream.
As can be seen from those quotes, the former Barcelona boss is an interesting character, whose quirks and foibles can be copy gold for journalists. However, he has an uneasy relationship with sections of the Spanish media, especially those based in Madrid.
Just as his Spanish team like to always be in control of the ball on the field, Enrique clearly likes to be in control of the message. So six days before the World Cup kicked off in Qatar, the coach of La Furia Roja made an announcement to the world via Twitter and Instagram: ‘Streamers of the world, get out of the way! I’m heading downhill and I’ve got no brakes!’
Twitch is a video livestreaming platform that was founded a decade ago and continues to grow in popularity. Enrique is one of 140 million active users, which also include his former player Gerard Pique, who once opined that the growth of social media means athletes no longer need journalists.
But this is the first time that a national team manager has cut out the middle guy to get a message across. ‘It’s an idea I think which could be interesting, to establish a direct relationship with the fans,’ Enrique explained. ‘To establish a more direct relationship with no filters, more spontaneous, more natural.’
Enrique is still sitting through the pressers that are organised by FIFA but he is able to present a more natural side of himself later on social media. The wonder is that it has taken so long for a national team manager to realise that this is the perfect platform on which to control the message. Twitter’s imminent doom has been largely predicted over the past few weeks, given what has happened since Elon Musk has taken over the company, but the social media site is responsible for creating the first environment where athletes interacted directly with their fans.
Since the little blue bird took flight in 2006, sports stars used the platform for two things primarily – interact with their fans and take advantage of its many avenues for self-promotion. Athletes were seen to be speaking their mind on Twitter, or social media, than into a microphone. They tweeted more and talked less.
There was a downside to the interaction too, of course, as was seen most troublingly in the aftermath of England’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy in last year’s European Championships final.
But athletes quickly realised that the advent of social media allowed them to be more in control of the narrative. As far back as 2009, former NBA star and now respected basketball pundit Shaquille O’Neal saw the future when he informed Sports Illustrated: ‘In this world that we live in now, everyone becomes media. If something is going to be said, it is going to come from me, it is coming from my phone.’
O’Neal’s comments were prophetic given he was speaking a year before Instagram was launched. That was the same year that LeBron James announced who his next team was going to be in an hour-long television special called The Decision. That felt like the ultimate in controlling every aspect of the message, but the growth in social media has even eclipsed that.
Perhaps, the clearest sign of how an athlete can control the message was Naomi Osaka at last year’s French Open and her statement on Instagram that showed where the power now lies. When Osaka took to social media and said that she would not attend any post-match press conferences, the tennis authorities got into a tizzy and threatened her with suspension. But the four-time Grand Slam champion held firm.
Enrique’s own video stream is simply another extension of controlling the message. Of being able to use their an outlet to get a point across. In the sport star’s mind, it is about the need for an honest broker – and given Enrique’s history with the media in his own country, it may be understandable that he has gone down this route – but what happens when hard questions have to be asked?
If Spain falter badly this evening against Germany, will Enrique accept any critique of his team on Twitch? Or will he discard the hard questions? It is all very well when everything is positive about his team but what if they lose 2-0 tonight and a supporter wants to know if Sergio Busquets still has the legs for midfield?
And therein lies the issue with sports stars framing their own narrative. It can become even more convenient to dodge questions that need to be asked – and that is already easy in normal press conference situations.
As more sporting organisations move towards their own streaming model, the temptation will be for more interviews to be conducted in-house. The IRFU and FAI have already made tentative moves in that direction, and GAAGO’s more pronounced presence in our lives next summer will also give the GAA that opportunity.
During Jim Gavin’s Dublin tenure, when media access was controlled to the nth degree, anything newsworthy was put into the public domain on DUBSTV, such as the surprise return of Diarmuid Connolly. But the thing was that Gavin was able to drop into a two-minute interview that the mercurial forward was back in his panel, thus confirming the rumours around the city, with no follow-up question.
And that’s the problem with this idea of athletes and managers taking control of the message. Because it will always be their story. Even though the manager may be more open to answering the questions posed by fans – and supporters may ask better questions at times – there still needs to be the idea of someone being probed. And examined. Which you don’t get with a Twitch stream. Or an in-house channel.
The landscape of sports media has changed irrevocably over the past decade or more and whether Twitter survives its current binfire or not, there will be some other platform on which athletes and managers can interact with supporters before long.
But the hard questions are much easier to ignore in this sort of interaction. And when the message is controlled, they can be avoided.
If that starts to happen regularly, then something will be lost.
Athletes were seen speaking their mind on Twitter and not into a mic
Hard questions are much easier to ignore when everything is kept in-house