ROCK HILL, SC – The use of social media has become an integral part of the daily operations of any collegiate athletic department,  and understanding its proper use and value was the topic of a training session that all Winthrop student-athletes, coaches, and staff, attended this week.

With the continued growth of social media, Sue Castorino, president and founder of The Speaking Specialists, conducted six sessions on how to deal with new media and communicating through these new mediums and with reporters.  Castorino, a former television and radio news reporter in Cleveland and Chicago, has addressed athletes and coaches at more than 300 colleges and universities as well as professional athletes and Olympians on the implications that come from social media usage and handling.

“The purpose of my presentations is to bring everybody up to speed on 21^st Century media communications and how much it's changed,” Castorino said.  “Most importantly everyone needs to realize that they are always on the record.”

Through videos, real-life examples and audience interaction the coaches, staff and student-athletes learned about the fallacies of privacy settings on social media sites in addition to the best ways to positively promote themselves and Winthrop through sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Castorino also did mock interviews with selected athletes and coaches to demonstrate how they should always talk about Winthrop, talk about the now and be able to spin a negative question into a positive response.

“I thought it was really useful information,” senior softball player Kathryn Eberlin said.  “Learning about what people can see on your social media and what you should think about before posting on Facebook or Twitter was a good lesson for all of us.”