Twitter: The Sports Media Rookie

Twitter has recently become a source of fascination and legal controversy for the sports world. Everyone from professional golfers (Steward Cink has over 900,000 followers) to professional basketball players (Shaquille O'Neal has more than 1.8 million followers) have signed on to Twitter (Gregory, 2009). Athletes rely on Twitter to share their thoughts, post pictures, make announcements and even relay inspirational messages to fans.

For those unfamiliar with the new social networking phenomena Twitter, or who have been living under a rock for the past year,—here is a brief primer: Twitter, founded in 2006, is a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as 'tweets.' Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the authors profile page and delivered to author's subscribers who are otherwise known as 'followers.' Currently Twitter has 7 million unique monthly visitors and has a monthly growth of 1,382% (McGiboney, 2009). Technology gurus predict Twitter will surpass other social media outlets like Facebook and Myspace in the near future.

Penalty Flags and Foul Balls Lead to New Regulation

Athletes should be aware that opening a Twitter account can also open oneself up to a number of legal risks. Throughout the summer and fall of 2009, new Twitter accounts ushered in new problems and new fines for a number of athletes. In August 2009, the San Diego Chargers fined Cornerback Antonio Cromartie $2,500 for using Twitter to complain about the food served at the team's training camp. The offending Twitter post not only complained about the food served at the team's training camp but also insinuated that it contributed to the team's failure to make it to the Super Bowl in recent years ("Cromartie tweets," 2009). During a recent game against the St. Louis Rams, Washington Redskins backup linebacker Robert Henson used his Twitter page to label booing fans "dim-wits" and ask how people "who work 9 to 5 at McDonalds" could know what's best for the team. Henson later apologized and deactivated his Twitter account ("Henson takes," 2009, ¶3).

Amid such recent controversy, many sports leagues have begun instituting formal Twitter policies. The NFL's Twitter policy, which applies to players, coaches and other team personnel, prohibits Twitter use beginning 90 minutes before a game until following the conclusion of media interviews after a game. The league does not restrict Twitter use by players and coaches on other days. In conjunction with their new policy, the NFL did issue an announcement that states "the growth of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has created new ways of or the NFL and clubs to communicate and connect with fans. The NFL has been at the forefront of the use of new media and will continue to emphasize innovation and approach use of these new forms of communication" ("League announces," 2009, ¶10).

Fearful that the casual nature of Twitter could inspire players to inadvertently disclose privileged information ranging from game plans to injuries, the NBA has also followed suit by issuing a formal policy. On September 30, 2009, the league issued a policy prohibiting "coaches, players, and other team basketball personnel" from using cell phones and other communication devices 45 minutes before game time until after players have finished their responsibilities after the games ("NBA issues," 2009, ¶3). Following the lead of the NFL and NBA, the NHL most recently instituted a league-wide policy pertaining to Twitter. The NHL policy prohibits players from using communicational devices for social media activity—including Twitter and Face-book—thirty minutes before and after games, practices, meetings and media access periods. In regards to the policy, NHL Director of Social Media Marketing, Mike Dilorenzo said he looked at the NBA and NFL rules and used that as the basis for his own recommendations (Corazza, 2009). Major League Baseball (MLB) has no specific guidelines but has a longstanding policy regarding communicational devices that prohibits their use thirty minutes before the start of a game.

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