The use of social media is ubiquitous, and one university has finally decided the smart approach is to make the new technology platforms to make its athletes.

“Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.”

That was Ohio State University third-string quarterback Cardale Jones’s short-lived message to the world, sent via Twitter last fall. Presumably, somebody in the Buckeye athletics department caught wind of the tweet and ordered its deletion, but not before it was immortalized in screenshots and chastised by commentators. Jones’s Twitter account was closed and he was suspended for a game.

“We allow our student-athletes the opportunity to express themselves via the social mediums,” Ohio State said in a statement following the incident. “What we do ask of them and communicate to them is…. always remember not to post or tweet anything that could embarrass themselves, their team, teammates, the university, their family or other groups, organizations or people.”

Ohio State’s approach is pretty typical – at least, among those colleges that even bother to train athletes on appropriate social media usage (about half, according to a survey by the College Sports Information Directors). Other strategies include forbidding athletes from using social media at all, or using software to monitor posts and flag anything problematic.

But focusing on the negative clearly only goes so far. That’s why Colgate University officials are actually encouraging their athletes to use social media often, with a focus on what should be said as opposed to what shouldn’t be.

“Saying ‘don’t use it’ is not going to work,” said Matt Hames, manager of media communications at Colgate. “The really scary thing to a lot of people is now a 17-year-old kid has a device in their hand where they can say anything at any time. You just nudge them in a direction where they think about it a different way.”

So instead of tweeting that classes are pointless – a sentiment no doubt shared by myriad students whose social media musings are not put under a microscope – an athlete might highlight his favorite course or professor (or, if there aren’t any, a good play he made that day at practice). Or an interesting thing he would like to learn. Or a career aspiration.

“Essentially, it’s the notion that you have a platform right now,” Hames said, “and people are going to know of you and follow you. So use Twitter, use social media in a positive way. Understand that you have a goal. Think of it that you’re marketing yourself, and your goal is to get noticed by recruiters.”