My beef this week is with the growing relationship between sports and social media.

For the past couple of years, both professional and collegiate athletes have used social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to have a closer connection to their fans and essentially use them as a platform to say what they want to say – whether it be talking about that great pancake breakfast they had this morning or trying to help with the relief effort in Haiti.

Athletes usually use Twitter pages in a playful way, to create a personal brand and to remain popular among sports fans willing to follow their every move.

But sometimes, these athletes cross the line and expose a little more than they should in their tweets or Facebook posts.

Just this past week, Julian Wright of the New Orleans Hornets used Twitter to tell his 5,220 followers that he “might need a change of scenery.” He did this before speaking with anyone in the Hornets organization about wanting to be traded.

Problems with athletes exposing too much information on social media sites do not just extend to professional athletes and Twitter; the same problem can be found with collegiate athletes and Facebook.

Another incident occurred this past week when Oregon wide receiver Jamere Holland used an expletive-filled status update to express his anger over the dismissal of fellow Duck Kiko Alonso from the team after he was arrested for a DUI.

The Facebook post read: “How the (expletive) you kick kinko off the team . on some weak (expletive) he slipped up but ive been slippn up, and I’m still here, that (expletive) … could have done damage for the ducks, that (expletive) is weak, weak (expletive), quote me.”

Well, he certainly got that wish. His words spread quickly, and soon enough Oregon Head Coach Chip Kelly decided to kick Holland off the team for a violation of team rules.

Holland and Wright are far from the only athletes who have run into trouble for their Twitter and Facebook posts. Inappropriate comments both in terms of content and timing by athletes on these sites have become headaches for league and team management. NBA players like Shaquille O’Neal and Charlie Villanueva have actually tweeted during the middle of games, and before Chad Ochocinco had the chance to do the same, the NFL shut him down.

Possibly the worst aspect of athletes using social media is the fact that sometimes the athletes leak information to the public that the front office does not want made public.

Last year, Minnesota Timberwolves’ forward-center Kevin Love told the world that his coach, Kevin McHale, would not be returning this season – before anyone else in the front office or McHale himself got to make the announcement.

As a result of these incidents, executives have to be careful about how they handle athletes’ use of social media sites and how much leeway they give them.

But not all uses of these sites by athletes are bad. The advantages of athletes using social media are numerous, not only for the athletes but also for the team.

By becoming a follower of an athlete, a person is more likely to closely follow that athlete, which means they are more likely to follow the athlete’s team and the league in which the team plays. Everybody wins.

Aside from these advantages, however, there are the numerous disadvantages that come with athletes using social media sites.

Twitter and Facebook are ideal places to vent anger, whether it be about wanting to be traded, not getting enough playing time or how anyone from the front office to the coaching staff to even teammates are handling things.

The process of typing our feelings into a Twitter or Facebook post is so impersonal that it makes it seem that what we are saying is harmless. Yet it is actually very personal, as people around the world can immediately see what you have to say and form their own opinions. A simple expression of emotion can quickly turn into a whirlwind of exposure.

The NBA and NFL have placed restrictions on their athletes, stating that they cannot tweet before, during or after games until they have met with the media.

Even though these restrictions have been helpful, it remains close to impossible to stop problems from arising without totally keeping athletes off social media sites.

It is easy for an athlete to slip up. But these athletes are constantly under the spotlight, and one simple mistake is all they need to suffer dire consequences. Athletes are humans too – they make mistakes like everyone else. They just need to be stopped before doing so on Twitter or Facebook.

Alex Lau is a freshman in the College. What’s for Dinner appears in every other Friday issue of Hoya Sports.