“Kim, being a public figure isn’t a big deal, and even if you do wear your heart on your sleeve on social media, it’s the same as a one-line article in a newspaper.”안전놀이터

A few years ago, an acquaintance of mine shared this story with me as a way to give some real advice to celebrities about their social media presence. He emphasized that professional athletes, in particular, need to be careful what they say on social media because their words can have a huge impact on their fans. Given that even a casual, joking conversation with a best friend can come back to haunt them once they enter the pros, I’ve also emphasized the power of social media for good to high school athletes.

The power of social media is such that even the mistakes of commentators can be a big problem. It can function as a ‘small press’ in itself.

In that regard, Choi Joo-hwan (SSG) made a big mistake on his personal SNS on the 19th. Although he wrote what he wanted to say on his personal account, he largely ignored the fact that it could be seen by an unspecified number of people.

Choi posted on social media that he wanted to find the ball that hit him for his 1,000th career hit. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, the problem is that the 1,000th hit was a home run, and coincidentally, a fan took the home run ball and it was captured on a live broadcast. The fan’s face was captured on the broadcast and he said, “I want it back,” which is definitely out of character for a professional athlete. The face of the fan who caught the home run ball was also exposed to an unspecified number of people.

This is enough to file a ‘defamation lawsuit for truthfulness’ if the person was offended. And neither the KBO nor the SSG can escape responsibility for failing to properly educate fans on social media. In the end, the incident became controversial as the fansites were discussing it, and Choi Joo-hwan himself realized the seriousness of the situation and immediately closed his social media accounts. From the sounds of it, the fan who got the home run ball has been in touch, and Choi Joo-hwan and SSG will be responding with appropriate compensation.

While this may have been a one-off incident, it’s important to point out that there’s a reason for this. Professional athletes need to realize that their social media is a quasi-media outlet, and that even if they post a photo, they need to make sure that they are not violating anyone’s human rights.