Social media is becoming more and more prominent in modern day society, none more so than in the industry of professional sport.
Largely, it gives fans a chance to interact with their football club, players, and supporters and is largely used in a beneficial way, however, it also allows people a platform to vent their frustration, create conflict, and send unnecessary abuse to those in the spotlight.
And that was seen following Notts County's 2-2 draw with Chesterfield, with a number of tweets sent in the way of some Magpies players, which created a unwanted divide between a minority of fans and players so early into a National League season.
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Defender Connell Rawlinson jumped to the aid of his team-mates including Jim O'Brien, taking to Twitter to explain his thoughts on the situation, which received large amounts of support from Notts fans.
At half-time of their encounter with the Spireites, a chorus of boos could be heard around Meadow Lane as Luke Williams found his side 1-0 down, which then quickly turned to cheers following Macaulay Langstaff's quickfire double.
Speaking on the issue ahead of their match against Halifax on Saturday, Williams said: "We had a chat as a group and I think we have to be more aware of how to handle these situations.
"It's an emotional game and the guys are probably in the wrong emotional state when they receive these messages, and we have to have a way of dealing with that much better."
The Notts boss explained that it was a hard situation for him to comment on after stating that he was on no form of social media, but he understood that players within his squad want to defend themselves when posts are being put online following a bad performance.
"Yeah, I can understand that and I think if Connell took one four letter word out of his essay I don't think anyone can have any complaints about it.
"I thought it was really well written, but ultimately we need to be stronger than that and not react to things, but it's coming from emotion.
"I understand the guys get criticised and they want to answer the critics, but answer them by putting on a good performance and winning a game of football, and you won't find many negative things getting sent your way, that's the answer."
After an unbeaten start to the National League season, boos from the crowd could be seen as an unnecessary response, but Williams explained he was not fazed by the reaction and focused more on the positive noise in the crowd that ultimately resulted in his side picking up a point against Chesterfield.
"Genuinely, I had no problem, I had no problem with it at all," said Williams.
"I feel a little bit for the players, but I said at half-time that they have me to answer to because I am the guy that picks the team and I have not got a problem with how you are playing, I think the guys played so well in the first half.
"Chesterfield are a really good team, of course they were going to cause us problems, but in the flow of the game, we built up very quickly and we looked really dangerous, and on any other day, the game could be over after 15 minutes.
"The fans booing at half time, they are frustrated and they want us to be 3-0 up in every game, and I have no problem with that.
"If we are going to be so sensitive to fans booing us, then we are in the wrong industry. They want us to win, they don't support another team, but they drove to Notts to buy a ticket to come in and boo and put us off, they don't.
"They love us. They are absolutely behind us. But in the emotion of the game and the emotion of recent history, they are so frustrated and so engaged the game, that their emotions spill over into booing to try and motivate us.
"Maybe it's counter productive, but we have to understand that they are not booing us because they want us to lose, it's the opposite. They're booing us to say come on, do more, we want to celebrate with you.
"And when we did, and the guys showed so much courage and aggression going forward, the atmosphere in the crowd was incredible, I could feel the energy and we have to accept, that fans can not be in the crowd that are so committed to us, but then be level headed and say, oh they're 1-0 down and they're doing alright, of course they are emotional and their emotions spilled over into boos, and for me, that is not a problem.
"We love the fans, genuinely we do. Even the ones that boo, we love them and want them there and we need to give them something to cheer about instead."
Notts goalkeeper Sam Slocombe also spoke ahead of Halifax this weekend, and the Magpies shot stopper was quick to echo the thoughts of Williams following the Chesterfield match.
"I understand it's a massive game for the supporters and a massive game for the players," said Slocombe.
"We have to understand that this league is not easy, there are a number of good teams in this league, and we have shown over the last three years that we have been in a position to go up.
"One team gets automatic promotion out of the league, which makes it difficult with 46 games across the season, if you believe you are going to play perfect football for 46 games, I think you are mistaken.
"You look at any sport, people underperform on certain days, that happens and it's not through purpose, we don't purposely try to underperform.
"I also did not think we underperformed in that first half, we were just in a position of being 1-0 down and we hadn't quite taken advantage of our box entries, which can happen.
"We thoroughly respect the fans, we think it's fantastic. There is not many clubs in this league that will get as many fans every game as we do, and a lot of them that come to the ground are fantastic day in, day out.
"We get their frustrations, and we are frustrated as they are, but you saw when we scored the first goal how much of an extra player they were, when their reaction was what it was, it gave us a massive lift.
"We scored an equaliser within two minutes of that, and that is credit to players on the pitch with the determination and the character they have, but it's also a credit to the atmosphere and the fans and that is the power that they have.
"All we ask that they bring that power and provide us with that extra impetus. The way they are, some teams come here and out onto the pitch and it can bring that anxiety for them, and can really help us win the game.
"Even in the Nottingham Forest game, the atmosphere was outstanding and when it came to those opportunities to go and attack them on the break, it helped us.
"I think that is the main thing that we have to remember. Us as players, and the supporters at the club can make this place a massive fortress and make it such a difficult place for teams to come and play and it's up to us that we use all those tools every game, that is us as players and us as fans as well.
When asked about the social media interactions between the players and the fans, Slocombe revealed that he deleted all forms of social media around ten years ago because of the negative comments he received.
"I got rid of all social media around ten years ago because, not that I would get involved, but people would tell me and I would see comments about myself from people I don't even know.
"I think in any walk of life, someone says it your face or on social media, if you read some negative opinions about you, it is going to have a detrimental effect.
"Us as human beings, we are wired to note the negative more than the positive, because it's a survival mode, so I removed it myself.
"We're in an industry as professional sportsman we are put out there to have opinions on because people genuinely have passion about the game and it is what makes football and sport so special because everyone has an idea about the game.
"You have to accept that people are going to have opinions on you, whether they like you or don't like you, but then the professional side of us has to say look, what the opinion of us is at the club we're at, at the job we're at, they think we're doing a good job.
"It's a great platform to share stuff with fans, but the unfortunate side effect of that is that people can share stuff with you that are not brilliant for you, and I just think that is the life we live in at the minute.
"We just have to make sure we are focused everyday and speak with the right people at the club and they are the opinions that really matter to us as players."
