Social networks like Facebook and Twitter provide avenues for sports fans to connect with teams and athletes. Southeast Missouri State University's athletes and coaches have their niche in social networks to draw attention to the school.

"I tweet about the team as much as possible just for more exposure," Southeast men's basketball player Marcus Brister said. "With SEMO being a small school, I try my best to get as much recognition and tweet about it as much as possible to get people to watch us more."

Southeast women's basketball player Katie Norman is out for the season with a back injury, but she can still raise awareness about the team through social networks.

"With social media you can get your games out there and really promote your team," Norman said.

Social media is an important way for first-year Southeast women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler to connect with high school recruits.

"It's 100 percent a recruiting tool, and that's why I use it," Margenthaler said. "If you ever go to my Facebook it's just talking about our program, about the kids, about practice, about what we're doing when we are on the road. Kids follow that stuff, and it's really important that we get that information out."

Margenthaler tweets positive things about the team's practices and games. After the team's overtime loss on Jan. 21 at Tennessee Tech, he tweeted that he was very proud of the team.

"I just want anyone who follows me to know the success we are having, what we are doing, how we are building this program from scratch," Margenthaler said.

Social media usage varies between individuals. Southeast men's basketball player Telvin Wilkerson doesn't tweet about the team, but he is still aware of his athlete status when using social media.

"I just don't want to brag about it too much to everyone and seem cocky since we are doing really well this season," Wilkerson said. Southeast is in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 5-2 conference record.

For all the positives that could result from social media usage, the potential for negative publicity is there depending upon what an athlete says. According to Norman, athletes need to be responsible about the things they say on social media websites.

"There are just certain things you shouldn't say stuff about, like partying or personal stuff," Norman said. "Athletes are also repping their school and coaches."

Brister, Norman, Margenthaler and Wilkerson all said that social media has had a strong impact on sports culture.

"I think it's a tremendous impact," Margenthaler said. "I think that we can get our program's name out there in a social setting. It's very positive for the university, for our program. And the way kids interact these days is through social media, and so I just have to be proactive for it."

Marcus Brister, Ty Margenthaler, Katie Norman and Telvin Wilkerson can be found on Twitter by their handles @MBrister2, @CoachMsemo, @KBelle25 and @Telvin_1000.