September 30, 2009

Courtside Liquor Ads? Yes. Social Media? No.

And no, I’m not trying to make some sort of weird comparison between the two.  Just trying to show how interesting the summer of the Miami Heat has been.  Earlier this year, they decided that they would allow liquor ads, court side, in an effort to generate more revenue.  Now, ahead of the NBA’s official policy on social media, they’ve banned the usage of social media during “work time”.  From Google,

Miami players can no longer participate in social networking while at the arena, home or away. Many Miami players are accomplished tweeters, often sending messages to each other at all hours of the day and night. But practice or game times, it’s not allowed.

“We’ll have strict rules on it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday at the team’s media day. “The NBA has put in strict rules about it. Social media, we will not accept that in our building during office hours. That’s the way we’ll look at it when we’re coming to practice, to shootarounds and to games. We’re coming to work and we’re coming to get a job done. That’s not time for social media.”

Its an interesting situation, no?  On the one hand, it shouldn’t be that surprising.  You can’t (I assume) tweet at your job on work hours, so why should professional athletes be any different?  When you go to work, you’re there to focus on your job…the same goes for professional basketball players.  On the other hand, the regular person gets a lunch break, with which they’re able to do whatever they want…is there no equivalent time period for the professional athlete?  Furthermore, why is social media the “red headed step child“?  If social media is being banned under the guise of “when you’re at work, focus on work” then shouldn’t the same apply to emails? Or even regular phone conversations?  Why has social media caused a change to NBA and individual team rules?

Lets be honest.  The NBA and to a further extent the Heat are concerned with policing their players; that’s the only reason a social media policy exists.  There was no specific phone ban because you can only talk to one person.  Same with email (for the most part).  Twitter, Facebook and the like are broadcasted to thousands of people at once and it is completely unfiltered.  There’s no PR team crafting a response, no reporters asking leading questions (or at least call and response); its whatever the athlete wants to talk about, at any point in time.  That sort of communication scares the NBA (and in many cases rightfully so) because it makes it borderline impossible for them to protect their brand.

Its the new age of communication…adapt, or be left out in the cold.

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