With football players progressively embracing Social Networking and Social Media during the off season, it was only a matter of time before the NFL would have to take a formal stance on the practice. Yesterday the NFL announced their Social Media Policy.

The policy is obviously an attempt to protect the lucrative finances the league earns from its television contracts. The policy specifically states that there will be no updates permitted by the individual himself (player, coach, football operations personnel) or anyone representing him on his personal Twitter, Facebook or any other social media account 90 minutes before the game, during the game, and not until the traditional postgame interviews are concluded (approximately another 90 minutes). NFL Game Officials are prohibited from using Social Media at all.

Of course this is a relatively interesting prohibition. While the NFL has traditionally prohibited play-by-play descriptions of their games in progress, this Social Media Policy is further restricting to players both before the game has officially begun and after the game has officially concluded. The league however still has not come up with a solution to fans in the stands using Twitter and Facebook to do so.

Hopefully the NFL has taken notice of the Southeastern Conference’s Social Media Ban during college games and it’s quick reversal after receiving harsh criticism for their draconian overtone, and the NFL is weighing their options before making the same mistake and alienating legions of their fans.

About the author

Dave Konig wrote 204 articles on this blog.

Dave has been involved in Social Media since 2005 through the current major services and some defunct ones as well. During this time he has been able to hone the craft by testing out the theories of others, creating his own philosophies, and gathering a better understanding of the mediums involved through networking and most importantly actual practice.

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