Tweet: Blowing the Whistle on Twitter--The NFL Has Stopped Using it During their Games Should Other Sports As Well?

In today’s social media networking world Twitter has become like an adult playground. We’ve all seen the Verizon commercial where the Dad is sitting on the patio tweeting “I’m sitting on the patio” while his son stands by, admonishing him. It’s taken over not only on the patio, but on the athletic field as well.

At the beginning of last month, the NFL took the axe to Twitter, limiting players, coaches, team personnel and the media from using Twitter during the games. Accordingly, the policy states that the above people must stop tweeting 90 minutes prior to a game and cannot resume until post-game interviews are complete.

No one was more upset than prolific tweeter Chad OchoCinco, who vowed to find ‘loopholes’ in the NFL’s twittering policy. “NFL, I would like to apologize to you guys early. I understand. I read all the fine print in the letters you sent, but I did find loopholes. I found loopholes," he said in an article in the USAToday titled, “Chad Ochocinco vows to find 'loopholes' in NFL Twitter policy.”

It’s an interesting concept to grasp especially in terms of not just the NFL, but other sports as well, especially the WPS, which has relied heavily on twitter to communicate with its audience.

Now, the WPS may not have the same fan base or media attention that the NFL does, but should players, coaches, team personnel and media be able to twitter during the game?

I say absolutely!!

Personally, I think for an organization, that just finished its inaugural year, WPS, its players and its personnel needed to take advantage of all the media resources it could use.

With 27 players, 2 head coaches, 3 assistant coaches and 19 league/team executive and WPS staff who post on an actual twitter account as well as gametime twitter updates from the staff at WPS office in San Francisco WPS heavily emphasized social media to connect to its fans during their first season.

Largely, I believe that it was a success. Like I said before, the WPS is in a slightly different position than the NFL, but the best way now-a-days to connect with an audience both young and old is through social media. Twitter alone attracted 21.2 million visitors this past July, during the heart of the WPS season, according to Internet research firm ComScore Inc., up from 783,000 visitors a year earlier.

For smaller start up leagues like WPS twitter in general, but especially during the game was an invaluable resource. It allowed people to follow along on their mobile devices with twitter updates every time a big play occurred and it brought the players into an accessible spotlight for its fans, which is especially important to a nation whose youth soccer program is still going strong.

On a final note, I must say that as an intern at WPS this past summer I saw how hard everyone in the office (but especially Amanda Vandervort, the WPS Web Coordinator and Karyn Lush, the WPS Head of New Media shout out!!) worked to maintain and update WPS to stay conscious of all the social media options out there. Therefore, I may be a little bias, but Twitter has in my opinion only helped and elevated WPS.

What’s your opinion? Should players, coaches, and team personnel in the NFL be able to Tweet during the game? What about players, coaches, and team personnel in the WPS? Has Twitter been a successful form of communication for WPS?

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Comment by meiyoumeiyoua on November 14, 2009 at 10:07pm: ed hardy

Comment by Kristen on November 8, 2009 at 3:18pm: I agree.. I do think it was valuable for the WPS. It attracted more fans and attention and it was definitely valuable for me when I couldn't watch a game on TV or follow it online, because I could get text updates from WPS players and staff on Twitter. I could see where some find it unprofessional, but for me, I think it helped the WPS in their inaugural season.

Comment by athletica117 on October 22, 2009 at 3:05pm: From what I saw the players that were supposed to tweet during the inagural game didn't do it very much because they got into the game and forgot about twitter. I have no problem with the players tweeting up until they leave the locker room, maybe a tweet at halftime about team morale in the locker room or something, and then as soon as they get back into the locker room.

Some of the teams need better updates during the game. i know the FC Gold Pride twitter was great during games. It actually tells you the play and not just a short blip like corner kick for this team, this team scored, or foul on this player. That really bugs me. I would like to know how they scored, what they did to earn the foul, or how they got the corner kick. That would be great if every team did that.

Comment by Mike on October 22, 2009 at 9:25am: Being a Revs fan I've always found it easy to disagree with Peter but this just seems like a no brainer to me. Players and Coaches should not be "tweeting" during matches under ANY circumstances. I cannot imagine a coach who would stand for one of their bench players texting during the run of play...If I looked down the bench and saw a player doing this they wouldn't be a player on my team anymore!

Now having media staff or GM's "tweeting" is fine and should actually be encouraged IMO, especially for the matches that are not being televised...

I don't have a problem with players doing anything before or after a match. IDK what the policy is now...The NFL's 90 minute rule seems a bit harsh, I wouldn't see a problem with players "tweeting" prior to leaving or upon entering the locker room but that's where their phones should stay....In the locker room!

Comment by Croz on October 22, 2009 at 8:45am: This is Andy Crossley, GM of the Boston Breakers. Barring a league ruling that I am unaware of, each team can go its own way on this right now, I believe. In Boston, our media staff will post Twitter updates during games. However, for Breakers players, it will be prohibited. I don't imagine this will be contentious - few players are quite as militant about their Twitter privileges as OchoCinco - but I feel strongly enough about this that we'll levy a fine on any player that violates this policy in Boston. Just my two cents, but any social networking benefit that comes from hearing a player's "unique perspective" during a game is more than offset by the intensely negative perception created that these athletes are focused on their iPhones and not on competing and winning matches. Nothing could be further from the truth for our players and we won't undermine our athletes' hard-won reputations just to tweet to the converted.

Comment by peter wilt on October 20, 2009 at 8:35pm: I disagree with most of the other comments. I agree with the original post. Players on the bench absolutely should be permitted to tweet during ga$es. They provide a unique perspective that adds to the fans enjoyment of the game without taking anything at all away. If a coach wants to send a Tweet prior to or immediately after a game, I think that is fine, too. I don't think anyone is suggesting players Tweet while they're playing. Frankly, it wouldn't be the end of the world if a coach Tweeted during the game either. Really, it isn't all that different from the in game TV interviews that coaches do. Nice blog post Grace!

Comment by christoph3r on October 20, 2009 at 12:22am: I think it was an interesting experiment, especially for a new league. But ultimately, I think that the players and coaches should be focused during the actual game itself.

However, I have no problem with players or coaches tweeting even closer to kick-off than the NFL 90 minute cuttoff or during halftime. At the coaches discretion, I think it is a very powerful way to engage fans. Tweeting just prior to kickoff or a quick tweet during halftime is such an amazing way to immerse the fan in the moment.

They allow news media to interview players and coaches at half time or as they're walking off the field. "The Tweet" should be allowed the same access.

I mean think of it... the game as just ended. And a tweet goes out to the fans...

"We just won the WPS Championship! I'm going to @disneyland :D"

Comment by Alondra on October 19, 2009 at 11:40pm: the only time a player should tweet is when she is injured and knows she won't play and is sitting on the bench.
other than that, the coaches and players shouldn't tweet. They should be focused on the game.

The teams' Twitter accounts were great for me personally because Match Tracker only has stats, and I like having better descriptions of plays, shots, corners, etc.

oh and I guess the players can tweet off the field, after the game and after training. With this league, we kinda need them to tweet cause it shows how the players can be approachable, and that's one of the things that most female athletes kinda "pride" themselves on...

Comment by Stephanie Erickson on October 19, 2009 at 10:12pm: Jessica P said it best..... Twitter is great for fans and should be facilitated by media staff.

Comment by Alicia on October 19, 2009 at 9:48pm: Although Twitter appears to make the athletes more accessible to the general public and this is great for securing a fan base, I think the in-game tweets should be left to the media personnel. They do a great job with live updates and I think the athletes can hold off for a few hours.