Sorry, Shaq: NBA Bans Twitter at Games
Joining the NFL and other sports organizations in the raining-on-our-parade camp, the NBA has declared pre-, post-, and mid-game social media verboten, according to a Sports Illustrated post this evening.
According to a memo sent out to teams today, no mobile or other communication devices are to be used from 45 minutes before a game starts until after the players have finished performing their athletic duties, including postgame locker room interviews. The ban affects players, coaches, and "basketball operations personnel." We are unclear whether cheerleaders are included in this perplexingly named category.
We're also not sure whether this ban applies to the official NBA Twitter account, which has more than 1.4 million followers, or to any of the myriad team Twitter accounts. What we do know is that the NBA will now be treating social media content the same way it would treat comments made to traditional media outlets.
The complete list of NBA players affected by this decision is staggering, but the ban also applies to other forms of social media, such as Facebook status updates. It would even prohibit the sending of text messages and emails during the prescribed time limits.
And although tweeting on the job is generally considered bad form, like all Twitter users who choose to make their professional lives part of their social stream, these NBA players are doing monumental things for engagement, brand ambassadorship, and real-time promotion. We consider the NBA's decision to make basketball less fun short-sighted and generally uncool.
However, the memo may be welcomed by many coaches and other team executives, who often prohibit the use of electronic communication devices at various times during team activities. Teams such as the L.A. Clippers and the Miami Heat already have guidelines in place that are much stricter than what was outlined in the NBA memo.
Many thanks to Mathew Ingram for the pointer and for inspiring our headline.
Does the NBA's call make sense to you? Or did the out-of-touch leadership go over the line? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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What would be interesting is to see how much of the communications lock down is related to sports betting and to possible areas of match fixing / match information being relayed across the text/social media.
Pregame/ingame looks like sports betting related - an ingame tweet of "Man, I can't shoot straight tonight" would spark a run om betting against the shooter's team.
Post-game looks like an enforcement of existing media exclusivity arrangements.
It's not so much leadership as it is follow-the-leadership. The only reason the NBA/NFL and others are imposing this restriction is that they're not sure what to make of everything just yet. So the natural reaction is to back away and take control (prohibit it.) I understand the need for uniformity, and hope that most professionals would consider Tweeting during a game something like taking a smoke break. Except, as professional athletes, their clients are all around them during the time they're performing. And smoke breaks might be misconstrued as something like ambivalence (for their job.) It's a conundrum.
I don't find it that restrictive. It's nothing new for leagues to NOT allow "traditional" media interviews before and during games. I see the same principle being applied.
Yeah, seems pretty unnecessary but I suppose overregulation is sort of Stern's style when it comes to stuff like this.
Are they thinking about keeping them from talking during games as well? Because in the world, we are living in, this is what it boils down to...
The NBA's policy is actually considered to be much more relaxed than that of the NFL. Players are able to use social media during the traditional pregame media access period. The NFL cannot.
Also, Shaq has always done an incredible job of using Twitter on his own time, not immediately before, during, or after games. It was actually Charlie Villanueva - then playing for Milwaukee - who got into trouble for tweeting during halftime.
Overall, this policy won't have much of an effect on NBA players who use social media. Most have always been respectful of the unwritten "no tweeting around gametime" rule. The real impact on social media use, will come from individual teams enforcing their own rules and guidelines. That's where we'll probably see stricter policies.
Thanks for the post. Seeing how professional sports adapts social media is fascinating to me. Keep up the good work.
They really should be focusing on the game, not tweeting. You hear this Mark Cuban!?
Shouldn't this be a given? As atheletes or sports professionals, they are "working" during the games aren't they?