News & Insights

Social media is everywhere right now but it needs to be treated with respect, especially when those 144 characters or that simple photo can be far reaching beyond what you might have expected when you touched that screen.

I have recently encountered two such cases where sports participants forgot to 'think twice before you type'.

So as an employer or sports governing body what are the key items that your social media policy should contain or more importantly what should the policy 'say' to your employees or athletes?

1. The policy needs to be very clear from the outset as to what is permissible to post on the various social media platforms. This list can be exhaustive!
2. Definitions are important - what is 'demeaning', what is 'inflammatory', what constitutes 'bringing an organisation or association into disrepute'.
3. What can be deemed to be inappropriate behaviour? What one person may think is completely appropriate behaviour might be deemed by an employer or governing body to be completely inappropriate.
4. Do you have a rule that your employees or athletes do not engage with others on social media which might infringe the social media policy - for example athletes brawling with journalists on twitter. Do you enforce a 'don't reply' or 'don't comment' policy?
5. The policy should remind the employees and athletes that what is placed on social media is firstly permanent and secondly can be deemed to represent the company or sport that the employee works for or participates in.
6. It is also advisable to remind the employees of possible external Codes of Conduct that their employer or team might be subject to and that the breach of the policy could infringe.

Social media use in sport has never been so prominent and if the policy document is for a sports team it should remind all athletes that they represent a team and their views or comments could be deemed to represent that team, coaches, its local governing body, its international governing body and very importantly the sponsors. One tweet can cost a club or team significant losses. A google search for 'sports tweet loses sponsorship' will tell you everything you need to know on that.

Is it enough for example to see employees and athletes use the phrase 'views are my own'? Do their views still potentially damage a brand image of a company or team?

Having a clear and simple social media policy in place sets out the same sets of rules for everyone either in a company or in a sports association and team. All levels in either the company or the team should be governing by the same set of rules with the same repercussions for breach of the policy.

Finally, the policy document should set out those penalties for breaches. These penalties should be fair and reasonable in the circumstances and should of course follow, in the case of employees, the already established disciplinary procedures as set out in the contracts of employment.