Recently the Toronto Maple Leafs became the 30th and final NHL franchise to join Twitter. By our count, the NHL is now the first of the four major leagues with all of its member franchises on the social networking site. As NHL teams warm to Twitter just in time for the ’09-’10 NHL season, it seems that NHL players are also growing more active on the site.

This week we confirmed that Nashville Predators goalie Dan Ellis and the recently retired defenseman Bret Hedican are the two newest NHL players on Twitter. Ellis joins his teammate Steve Sullivan on the site while Hedican is said to be interested in using social media to help publicize wife Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation.

While the NHL has by far the fewest number of active players using Twitter of any of the four major sports, the fact that the league now has all of its teams on Twitter makes league-wide, cohesive social media marketing plans even easier to implement. As a hockey fan, what are some of the ways you would like to see the NHL and its teams and players use Twitter this season? Which players would you like to hear from the most?

Tonight the NFL released a statement clarifying its policy on player usage of Twitter and other social media sites on game days. In short, the policy allows players to use social media sites up to 90 minutes before kickoff and again after post-game media interviews. Players and game day personnel are prohibited from using social media sites while the game is in progress.

The full release from the NFL office is below:

The NFL informed clubs today that coaches, players and football operations personnel are permitted under league policy and with club permission to use social media on game day during specific time periods before and after games.League policy allows for the use of social media or networking sites (including Twitter and Facebook) by players, coaches and football operations personnel up to 90 minutes before kickoff and after the game following media interviews.

The use of these sites by these individuals is not permitted during the game, including halftime. No updates are permitted to be posted by the individual himself or anyone representing him during this prohibited time on his personal Twitter, Facebook or any other social media account.

The use of social media by NFL game officials and officiating department personnel is prohibited at any time.
Longstanding policies prohibiting play-by-play descriptions of NFL games in progress apply fully to Twitter and other social media platforms. Internet sites may not post detailed information that approximates play-by-play during a game. While a game is in progress, any forms of accounts of the game must be sufficiently time-delayed and limited in amount (e.g., score updates with detail given only in quarterly game updates) so that the accredited organization’s game coverage cannot be used as a substitute for, or otherwise approximate, authorized play-by-play accounts.

Any use of social media during games by the public relations or website staff on an official club platform must be consistent with the play-by-play policy described above.

The NFL’s security department has been successful assisting players in removing fake sites on Facebook and Twitter. Players or other NFL employees who believe they are victims of identity theft by people impersonating them on social media sites are advised to contact the NFL’s security department.

The growth of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has created important new ways for 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 innovative and appropriate use of these new forms of communication.

The bolded sentence in the second paragraph prohibits others from using social media sites on behalf of the players, a policy which seemingly eliminates any possibility of Chad Ochocinco’s rumored fan-Tweeting-for-him-during-games talk.

It has been a whirlwind couple of days for the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference, the SEC.

On Sunday, St. Petersburg Times reporter Michael Kruse wrote an article detailing the SEC’s new social media policy. Kruse wrote that this new policy placed “increasingly stringent limits” on how conference schools could use social media. The real outrage, Kruse wrote, was that the policy seemingly governed fan behavior at SEC stadiums as well.

Kruse wrote that fans were prohibited from “updating Twitter feeds…posting [photos] on Facebook and Flickr…and taking videos and putting them on YouTube.” In short, the policy prohibited fans from using social media while watching SEC games.

Word spread quickly through Twitter and other sites after the popular social networking blog Mashable picked up the story on Monday. Fans were outraged.

This afternoon the SEC released a revised policy. The policy states:

No Bearer may produce or disseminate in any form a “real-time” description or transmission of
the Event (i) for commercial or business use, or (ii) in any manner that constitutes, or is intended
to provide or is promoted or marketed as, a substitute for radio, television or video coverage of
such Event. 

Personal messages and updates of scores or other brief descriptions of the
competition throughout the Event are acceptable. If the SEC deems that a Bearer is producing a
commercial or real-time description of the Event, the SEC reserves the right to pursue all
available remedies against the Bearer.

This means that fans are indeed allowed to post photos online and tweet during games. The policy does prohibit fans from posting or streaming videos of game action during the game but most fans will be happy they can continue to use their favorite social media sites during games.

SEC Associate Commissioner of Media Relations Charles Bloom clarified the revised statement in an interview with Kathleen Hessert of Charlotte based Sports Media Challenge this afternoon. He said:

“The intent of the revised policy is not to inhibit social media inside our stadiums with the exception of trying to protect our video rights as they pertain to our television and media partners. Someone in the stadium can enter Twitter feeds or Facebook entries and photographs, but the game footage video is something we will try to protect.”

Bloom answered questions about the intent of the original policy and how fan reaction shaped the revised policy. Check out the Sports Media Challenge blog for the full interview.

This incident raises several interesting questions about sports and social media. A few questions to ponder:

• What can we learn from the story of the SEC and social media?
• How much of a role did fan reaction play in the revised policy?
• Do you think this will continue to be an issue for sports organizations? Why or why not?
• How do you think teams and organizations will enact social media policies in the future?

What do you think of the situation? Have your say in the comments!

Twitter has been the talk of the NFL this week.

On Monday the New York Times wrote an article entitled “The NFL has identified the enemy and It Is Twitter.” In this brief article, author Judy Battista wrote that “paranoia” had gripped the league’s clubs as they grappled with how to handle Twitter, the exploding-in-popularity-amongst-players social networking site.

On Tuesday ESPN reported that the San Diego Chargers had fined cornerback Antonio Cromartie, an avid Twitterer, $2,500 for a tweet in which he criticized the food at the team’s training camp.

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With talk of paranoia in NFL front offices across the country, many fans wondered aloud about the NFL’s Twitter policy. We contacted NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy for clarification on the league’s stance on Twitter.

“[The NFL has] embraced Twitter,” McCarthy said. “Our NFL account has 770k+ followers, NFL Network’s Rich Eisen has 32k, and heck, even my own NFLprguy account has 5,700 followers. When done properly, it’s a tremendous opportunity to talk with and listen to fans.”

“Clubs, like any other company in America, do not want to put themselves at a competitive disadvantage by having players revealing strategy via their tweets. They also don’t want their players providing virtual chalkboard material to their opponents. This is comparable to another other company monitoring what its employees say publicly through any medium to ensure it is consistent with company policy.”

“Setting ground rules for news media coverage of practice is the responsibility of the clubs,” McCarthy said, “but our office provided recommended best practices for clubs to consider regarding real-time reporting (tweeting and texting) from training camp practices open to the public. 22 teams permit some reporting via tweets and texts from training camp practices open to the public. We recommended that clubs allow limited live reporting from open-to-the-public training camp practices subject to guidelines set by clubs on the reporting of strategy.”

McCarthy then reiterated the longstanding league policy prohibiting team personnel from using cell phones and other electronic devices on game day. “[These] rules…[apply] to the sidelines, coaches’ booths and locker rooms from the start of pregame warm-ups through the end of the game, including halftime. That would prohibit the use of Twitter, Facebook and similar social networking sites during that period of time by coaches, players, and other club personnel on the sidelines, in coaches’ booths and locker rooms. We are working on a broader policy that would apply to the use of social media sites in general on the day of a game.”

Does reading McCarthy’s comments change your mind about the NFL on Twitter? Why or why not?

I originally wrote the post below for current Sport Management students at my alma mater, York College of Pennsylvania. The tips are intended for a student audience but are applicable to any Twitter user. Feel free to add your own tips in the comments section. You can follow me on Twitter, too: @BrendanWilhide.

If you’re a current student and you’re already on Twitter, you already have a leg up on your peers that haven’t joined the site yet. Twitter is a unique networking opportunity, both socially and professionally, and many people have even found jobs exclusively via Twitter.

Here are some easy tips to help improve your Twitter presence and position yourself to be a better social media networker:

1. Use your real name as your Twitter handle
If you intend to network via Twitter, you obviously want people to know who you are. Doing something as simple as using your real name as your Twitter username makes that much easier. I’ll admit that I’m a recent convert to this practice but I did so because I want people to know who they are talking to when they reply to one of my tweets.

2. Use a headshot
Posting a simple, clear, professional looking headshot goes a long way toward making a good impression. While the headshot isn’t as important as what you say, having something inappropriate instead of your picture will draw attention to your Twitter profile–in a bad way.

3. Create an “info badge” for your profile
You probably know that you can change your Twitter background and upload any kind of image to your profile page. One easy way to introduce yourself to other Twitter users is to create a profile “info badge” which contains some basic information about you, what you do for a living, that sort of thing. Many users will include links to a website, blog or their other social networking profiles. I’ll admit that this particular tip does require you to be comfortable with having a lot of information “out there” but if you’re comfortable with people knowing all of these things about you the minute they visit your page, it does help to serve as a brief introduction.

4. Interact with your followers
Twitter isn’t a one-way street. The site is a constantly evolving conversation stream. One of the best ways to get involved is to start or join a discussion and interact with your followers. Sometimes you might tweet about something specific, an iPhone, for example, and suddenly you gain five or 10 followers in the next couple of hours, many of which own iPhones or have tweeted about them recently. Chances are your tweet probably caught their attention. Why not ask them a simple question as a means of introduction? A simple hello goes a long way.

5. Follow some “power users” but don’t expect them to follow you back
If you’re new to Twitter, it may come as a surprise to hear me describe certain Twitter users as “power users” or “Twitter celebrities” but it’s true; some users are more important than others. When I say “Twitter celebrities,” I don’t mean celebrities in the traditional sense. No, I mean those users who you’re following and most of your friends are following, too. They may write for your favorite blog or work for your favorite sports team. No matter where they work, these users consistently share interesting links and stories with their followers. These people probably have thousands and thousands of followers and they have them because others recognize their Twitter star power, too. You want to follow these people in part because they always share interesting information and they “know everybody at the Twitter party.”

6.  Building relationships on Twitter can lead to other things
I know Twitter users that have received business proposals and even job leads directly from their Twitter friends and followers through sites other than Twitter. If you use Twitter to build relationships, don’t be surprised when those relationships grow beyond Twitter. You may meet up with some Twitter friends for a Tweet-up or simply become LinkedIn connections with them. No matter how the relationship grows, the important thing is that it has grown from just a Twitter relationship into something more, something bigger. For small businesses, these types of relationships are extremely valuable.

7. Be careful what your tweet
If you intend to use Twitter as a networking tool, always think about what you’re tweeting and ask yourself “would I have to explain this for any reason to a prospective employer?” Yes, you can delete individual tweets but sometimes they remain in Twitter search for days until they’re removed. Treat your Twitter page as you would any other online profile. Don’t post anything you might regret later.

8. Don’t link bomb your followers
If you write a blog or maintain an online portfolio, you want to share that information as much as possible, especially with prospective employers. While it’s ok to share your website with your followers on occasion, take care not to overwhelm them with constant links to your own site. Part of using Twitter is discovering what other people are doing and working on. If other Twitterers find your website because of your Twitter profile, that’s great. You’ll take all the exposure you can get but just be careful that you’re not hitting your followers over the head with your website link every single day.

9. Use DMs for lengthy conversations
Twitter is a great medium for fast, short messages. If you find that a couple of tweets are turning into a lengthy conversation, use the direct message feature (DMs). That’s why they’re there. This rule isn’t as important as the others but your followers will appreciate this bit of Twitter etiquette.

10. Be authentic / be yourself
We’ve probably all seen one person who link bombs his followers or offers to market his product to each and every followers and, to be sure, those people aren’t going away so long as Twitter remains popular and cutting edge marketing and networking tool. The single best piece of advice I can give about Twitter is to just be yourself and be authentic. If you’re looking for an internship or entry-level job, share that information with your followers. If you think you can help someone else find a job, help them out. Being yourself and being authentic go a long way toward building a solid reputation on Twitter, a reputation that could lead to a new business relationship or even a new job.