So, why should NCAA schools care about social media monitoring?
Well, because each school has literally hundreds of athletes that could–at any time–say or do something that could, at best, bring the scrutiny of the NCAA and, at worst, bring the schools reputation into question. NCAA sanctions equal lost revenue. Bad publicity also equals lost revenue. As Rand Gentlin, a consultant who helps colleges with rules compliance puts it: …schools like UNC have so much reputation and revenue riding on their athletic department that they should have more people monitoring their players much more closely –even their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Division 1 schools in particular can bring in tens of millions of dollars in revenue via their basketball and football programs. A couple hundred bucks a month–to monitor the actions of their star athletes–is a pretty small investment.
