Add the National Football League to the list of sports orgs laying out specific guidelines for social media. The NFL sent a memo detaining its policy to clubs Monday afternoon and released a statement (published below) focusing on Game Day rules. Key points:
—“The use of social media by NFL game officials and officiating department personnel is prohibited at any time.”
—Players, coaches and football operations personnel can use social media or networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) up to 90 minutes before kickoff and following post-game media interviews. No use during the game or halftime; that includes any representatives using his personal social media accounts. (Interpretation: A friend or agent could tweet under his or her own name but not as the player or coach.)
The policy also lays out social media use rules for media applying “longstanding policies prohibiting play-by-play descriptions of NFL games in progress” to Twitter and the like “so that the accredited organization’s game coverage cannot be used as a substitute for, or otherwise approximate, authorized play-by-play accounts.” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, one of the league’s official tweeters (@NFLprguy), told paidContent the rules are meant to keep the focus on the game and preserve the rights of credentialed media. It’s also meant to protect competitive information during a game but it’s not as draconian as the International Tennis Association Tennis Integrity Unit’s effort to stop U.S. Open tweeting by players.
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