need a Social Media Policy?

I’m amazed we haven’t had more problems in sport with Facebook and Twitter.

In London there were astonishingly few problems. Michel Morganella and Paraskevi Papachristou were both sent home for racist tweets. But I expected worse.

How can coaches, clubs and athletes protect themselves?

Kevin Lawrie:

Problems or issues (‘fires’) that sport organizations deal with are handled in two parts – proactive and reactive. That is, there are steps an organization takes before the problem occurs that are aimed to prevent it (proactive) and steps the organization takes after the problem has occurred that are aimed to fix it (reactive). Organizations craft Policies that outline a procedure to cover both the proactive and reactive steps. …

Increasingly, in response to requests and questions from sport organizations, we are recommending the following:

Social Media Use Policy – for the organization’s staff and other stakeholders (internal document)

Social Media Guidelines for Athletes – ‘guidelines’ not ‘policy’ (internal document)

Social Media Guidelines for Coaches – ‘guidelines’ not ‘policy’ (internal document)

Social Media Policy – for coaches and athletes (external document)

Updated Code of Conduct or Athlete Agreement

The five documents work together to give organizations both the proactive and reactive solutions to social media issues.
Canadian Sport Law and Strategy Group – Does Your Organization Need a Social Media Policy?

One guideline for coaches — turn off the phone while in the gym.