PR 101 – Lesson 27 – You Don’t Mess Around with Social Media
Jeff Cole | September 8, 2009
There’s a song by the late Jim Croce where the refrain goes:
“You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
“You don’t spit into the wind.
“You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
“And you don’t mess around with Jim.”
© 2007 Ingrid Croce
The point of the song is that you don’t stupid things – or mess with things you know nothing about. I think that last line could be to paraphrased to: “And you don’t mess around with social media.”
ESPN, a number of pro football teams, some college football leagues, and a number of companies are messing with social media. The companies and leagues are banning fans, players and employees from using social media during games and work hours. In fact, the web security company ScanSafe has found that more companies ban the use of social media than ban weapons, according to a study it released Aug. 19.
According to Scan Safe’s study: “An analysis of more than a billion Web requests processed by the company each month confirms a 20 percent increase in the number of customers blocking social networking sites in the last six months. Currently, 76 percent of companies are choosing to block social networking and it is now a more popular category to block than online shopping (52 percent), weapons (75 percent), alcohol (64 percent), sports (51 percent) and Webmail (58 percent). Surprisingly, employers don’t take the same stern approach to online banking and less than half (47 percent) of our customers block this category.”
So, there are companies that allow their employees to drink and pack heat, but not update up their Facebook page. ScanSafe opines that companies think social media reduces productivity. Frankly, I think a three martini lunch will have a much greater effect on productivity than tweeting about what one’s dog did on his morning walk.
As for blocking social media use on the job, it is harder than it seems. While a company will know if an employee is using a company computer to access social media – what are they going to do about smart phones? If it is not a company supplied smart phone, how are corporate executives going what their employees are doing? More and more social media apps are moving onto smart phones. How is a company going to know what an employee is doing on their own smart phone?
Plus, I would want my employees to access social media to talk about my company. Several studies have shown that employees are the best brand ambassadors. If the price to be paid for employees talking up a new product is having them look at their Facebook pages once in a while, so be it. Remember, social media is about a building a community. That community building should start with your own employees.
On another front, the NFL has banned coaches, players, other personnel, or anyone representing them, and journalists from updating their status on Twitter, Facebook or other social media during games and up to 90 minutes before and after, according to TechDirt. Referees are banned from ever using social media while the league employs them, the site said. Apparently, this stems from an online apology from a ref over a blown call. We cannot have the refs admitting they are human, now can we?
I am not sure if this applies to the NFL itself, as it has its own Twitter account. The ban does not extend to players and other personnel when they are on their own time. The NFL is understandably trying to protect its lucrative broadcast outlets. Frankly, I happen to enjoy seeing a player tweet during a game. To me, it’s better than some sideline interview done with the coach where he hands out canned responses.
(On an unrelated note, just once I want to hear the coach of team who won by a huge margin not say something like: “the game was closer than the score indicated.” What I want to hear them say is what I suspect they are thinking: “what was that other team thinking even being on the field with us today? We wiped the turf up with them.”)
What is particularly troubling to me is banning journalists from using social media during a game. A very long time ago – when print media ruled the world – sports reporters would do inning-by-inning updates of the game they were covering. These updates would be read on radios and posted in newspaper offices for people to see. If it was particularly big event, say the Dempsey-Firpo fight in 1923, a newspaper might print extra editions to tell people what was going on.
No one had a problem in those days about giving out information during a game. The practice lasted until television came along. Then there was no need for it because everyone had access.
Now, with more and more sports events moving to cable and pay-per-view, many people no longer have access. Social media is way for fans to stay in touch and feel connected to their teams. Don’t teams want people to stay in touch? Fans are no longer willing to wait until the next day – or even until the late evening news – to find out what happened.
I think this policy is going to backfire on them – as it has with so many other companies.
Companies from Comcast to United Airlines have found out the hard way what happens when you mess with social media. I think a lot of other organizations are about to find the hard way they are in a fight they cannot win – just as Big Jim Walker found out when he messed with Willie McCoy. Big Jim thought he was the toughest man on 42nd Street, until he ran into Willie. A lot of organizations are liable to find themselves in the same fix – in a figurative way – the Big Jim did.
And when the cuttin’ were done
The only part that wasn’t bloody
Was the soles of the big man’s feet
Yeah he were cut in bout a hundred places
And he were shot in a couple more…”
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Agreed and well put. Anything that smacks of a disregard for fans or customers is a backfire in the making. Why is it so hard for too many companies to grasp that concept, until it’s too late?
I suspect that the reason that sports teams do not want their players to contribute to social media during the game or match is because it could contribute to the betting industry. It would be all to easy for players to put things online that are directly related to whatever they happen to be doing at the time.
You have to remembver, too, that there’s big money involved here; and it’s not just being paid to the players. Sponsors are involved, too. Anyone who is paying them would have to wonder just how hard they were concentrating on the job at hand if they were twittering during their spare moments.
Can I host a blog, a few of your quotes will take?.
Unfortunately, it is all about the money. When the games moved from broadcast to pay channels, it was for more money. The teams do not care what size the fan base is, as long as there is more money to be had. They are not making money from social media, and it has the potential to reduce the need to pay for up to the minute information. Therefore, they must ban it. It won’t be until the fan base has been so far reduced that another sport replaces it that they will wake up. By then it will be too late.
We are seeing the power of social media – just ask United Airlines. Companies will cower under the SM pressure. There is no stopping Social Media – it is only going to be getting bigger and bigger. The power is in the people’s hands …..
Good article but don’t really understand the knock on weapons seeing as it is our 2nd amendment right to bear them and there are numerous states that allow open carry.weapons (75 percent), alcohol (64 percent) I guess maybe I need clarification on whether he is talking about weapons in the workplace because I don’t know of many companies that allow alcohol during work hours.
You obviously have not been working in the “real world”. I have seen fellow employees do just about anything-surf the Internet, text, talk on the phone or just plain visit face-to-face-to avoid or delay their work. Social media is yet another venue for them to waste valuable work time. Don’t get me wrong, I think social media can be a valuable communications tool, but it can also be a great time waster. And as for the NFL and other sports, yes, it is about the money, but what about the players keeping their heads in the game instead of promoting their own agendas? They aren’t getting paid those high salaries to tweet on the sidelines.
Cindy,
Interesting point. But, I worked in a newsrooms for 26 years. When I came up, editors still kept bottles in their desk and shared after the last deadline. It was an accepted part of the job. Sometimes, on a really tough day, the bottle came out before the work was done. It did not affect the quality of the paper.
I have also seen employees do a lot of things they probably shouldn’t have. But, my point is they are going to do it anyway. Why not allow it, which I think will build employee goodwill. Happy employees are a key part of any company’s branding efforts. In the midst of the checking their Facebook page, they might actually say good things about their employer. That builds cache for the employer.
Plus, you want to ensure everyone will do something – ban it. The forbidden is always more tempting. Take away the ban and I willing to wager 75 percent of those indulging in a forbidden activity will stop doing it.
I don’t understand what this post has to do with PR. It seems like a defense for social media rather than a “how to”.
That said I have two points:
One, teams do not want their players messing around because of PR blunders… Anyone who is a sports fan has seen what happened this week to Larry Fitzgerald. Poor guy made comments to his brother about Kurt Warner and his brother tweeted it. Another player for the Washington Redskins got upset at the fans and tweeted his feelings only to make quick apologies to the fans for calling them dim whit.
Two, as a business owner I want the people who work for me to work when I am paying them, not spend time tweeting, Facebooking or worse, spending time on LinkedIn looking for jobs. I don’t mind personal business, but do it during lunch. I am pretty laid back and promote a happy environment, but major companies feel the same way and in this economy look at their employees as “line workers”, more specifically, if you are not producing the will fire the under achieving employee and hire the next in line. Employees must realize that they are all replaceable and need to put their best foot forward.
Obviously I agree with Cindy point. With regard to your comments about employees posting positive comments about their employers you’ve got to be kidding!!! I have never seen a positive word about anyone’s employer. Most recent post that I can recall “I love my job today, of course it’s the weekend and I’m going out with friends today…..” I certainly understand the power of social media and networks (after all here I am contributing), but there is a time and a place for everything. If you feel that your social networking is becoming addicting and is hindering your job performance you may have a problem and most likely so does your boss/employer.