This week, Major League Baseball released their official social media policy for players. Contrary to popular belief, the policies are not meant to stifle social media usage. Instead, they are meant to control players from acting unprofessional and potentially damaging the image their team, the league, or themselves. Most of the rules are common sense and are no different from social media policies found in most businesses. Here’s an excerpt from the official release:
This week, Major League Baseball released their official social media policy for players. Contrary to popular belief, the policies are not meant to stifle social media usage. Instead, they are meant to control players from acting unprofessional and potentially damaging the image their team, the league, or themselves. Most of the rules are common sense and are no different from social media policies found in most businesses. Here’s an excerpt from the official release:
MLB recognizes the importance of social media as an important way for players to communicate directly with fans. We encourage you to connect with fans through Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. Along with MLB’s extensive social media activities, we hope that your efforts on social media will help bring fans closer to the game and have them engaged with baseball, your club and you in a meaningful way.
None of the rules appear too prohibitive. Here are some highlights from the release:
- Players are not allowed to post on social media channels 30 minutes before a game, during the game and 10 minutes after a game.
- Players cannot threaten or harass other users (there is a specific section that prohibits complaints against umpires).
- Players must have permission from MLB before making comments that may be interpreted as “official”.
- Players cannot link to any MLB-affiliated websites or post copyrighted team logos, names, photos and other material without permission.
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