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With social media use on the rise and little indication that sport team hazing ceremonies are declining, the amount and types of exposure and awareness of hazing and its potentially detrimental impacts are shifting for athletes, the public and school administrators alike. This chapter describes relationships between hazing in sport and social media use in university athletics. These two areas of research have been investigated separately but warrant a closer examination to understand how they are intertwined. In this analysis, we include findings from our larger national-scale sport hazing study that produced a second stream of data specific to social media use. Data are derived from interviews with university athletic directors, coaches and athletes to spotlight: (1) uses of social media in the context of athletics, (2) their understanding of social media's relationship to hazing and (3) experiences with social media and hazing education. We also present recommendations provided by the researchers, and athletes, coaches and athletic directors, for athletic administration use in developing educational and informational resources that address the interconnections between social media use and hazing. This chapter describes how athletic departments and coaches perceived and (dis)engaged from discussions around social media, the ways that university athletes and teams engaged in hazing practices, the diversified and multiple uses of social media on teams differing by gender, highlighting a (lack) of educational programming provided for athletes by their university athletic departments centred around social media use and sport hazing as both separate and interconnected topics.

What is the purpose of hazing? Why does it continue to happen? How can we enact change? Despite a wealth of research on hazing – documenting the detrimental effects, analysing prevalence, trends and causes, as well as suggesting steps to prevent hazing – there remains a disconnect between anti-hazing research, messages and online resources and the delivery and implementation of anti-hazing information and work in communities. Ignited by waves of sport activism and social justice movements globally, not only is greater attention being paid to long-established cultures of violence and abuse in sport and society, but victims are finding their voice and collective strength to expose perpetrators of violence and hold them accountable. Indeed, we are witnessing positive cultural shifts that challenge many of the ideological norms and values traditionally used to rationalise hazing behaviours. Deep change of this magnitude requires serious investment in thoughtfully developing strategies to: optimise educational efforts, expose infractions, enforce rules, hold policymakers, team leaders and athletics personnel accountable, open lines of communication for reporting and addressing instances of hazing as well as listening to athletes' voices in promoting positive team building experiences. Successfully making these investments is key for making progress towards protecting athletes from cultures of violence and harm.