“Do I have to take this?”
TO BLOCK, MUTE OR GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA
What Athletic Directors and Coaches Can Do to Protect their Social Media Accounts from Trolls, Hate and Harassment.
A multitude of NCAA athletic directors and head coaches reached out to us for help regarding the right to block vs. mute twitter trolls on social media.
We looped in First Amendment and digital attorney, Michael Overing, Ph.D. and nationally recognized expert in digital social media psychology and the Director of USC’s Annenberg Program on Online Communities, Karen North, and crisis, litigation and digital communications expert and CEO of Social Media Sports Management (SM2), Carrie Cecil. All are members of The National Social Media Initiative in Athletics and work together on global cyberbullying, digital safety, harassment and online reputation cases.
The trio discussed the federal district court ruling in the Knight First Amendment Inst v. Donald J. Trump case and how it impacts athletic directors and coaches at public institutions.
Below are six takeaways to help athletic directors and coaches understand their rights, how to get ahead of this, and why they shouldn’t become too concerned with blocking:
1. Your institution is not the Presidency. While you don’t have to be a President to have your property targeted as a public forum, unlike President Trump, you do not have a legal mandate under the Presidential Records Act to preserve copies of all official communications as acts of the President. If you want to hire, fire or announce policy changes, it needs to be on official letterhead with proper approvals, thus keep official communication from being announced on twitter. An example of how to tweet important news is to tease your news on your twitter and point or link them to your official website or communication’s office. This protocol will also help the institution or athletic department to gain traction on their owned media pages. The reality is – the chances of your twitter ever being seen as a “public” forum are very slim.
2. Do not use social media for official acts. President Trump used his twitter feed to hire, fire and discipline governmental employees – actions we would caution are inappropriate to do in public, ever. By using his twitter account in this way, his actions became “official” actions of his Presidency, subjecting his social media account to higher scrutiny for public disclosure, dissemination and rebuttal. The differentiation for athletic directors or coaches to understand is that policy pronouncement is not answering your fans questions on social media about lights in the stadium, parking passes, or new shades of orange for your teams’ uniforms – it’s officially firing a coach.
3. Make sure your staff and student-athletes do not misuse social media accounts. Accountability starts with the athletic directors and head coaches. To that end, all stakeholders must be aware of the rules for using social media and your athletic department needs to issue its own rules and training for how it wants its personnel and student-athletes to behave. This is no longer the rah-rah or scare-tactic speakers but rather vetted compulsory education that protects the institution. Keep your social media policies and procedures clear and updated regularly and disseminate to all stakeholders. Lastly, if someone contacts you on social media about any of your policies, respond by telling them you will address it in the appropriate forum, give them your email to contact you and then address off of social media.
4. Accept criticism not harassment. In this day and age, not everyone will agree with us. Blocking them from seeing what we say to the public at large may not be the best solution. Generally speaking, “back-talk” is seen for what it is. Often a thick skin is better than overreaction. Only if it escalates, becomes threatening, libelous, disrespectful or harassing should you consider muting, and if it continues you should consider blocking or banning. We believe that the progression of the online harassment will ultimately be the determining factor of a court decision. Please report all harassment while online to the platform prior to muting or blocking. It is a simple maneuver that we would be glad to show you. And lastly, make sure you publish internally and externally your policies, procedures and protocols for when you block others. Set proper best-practices for your digital eco-system.
5. Do not provoke. One thing we’ve learned from President Trump is how to needle others. Athletic directors, head coaches, staff and student-athletes do not need to be a lightning rod. It requires training your personnel and student-athletes in how to use it. Social media use requires skill, wisdom, and a certain amount of self-editing to insure against inappropriate remarks and invitations to controversy. Stay neutral and/or positive.
6. Put policy in place to safeguard your people. A reasonable court will recognize that a president of a university answers to the board of trustees, an athletic director answers to his/her boss and a head coach answers to the athletic director. The President of the United States is an elected public official who answers to the public. Being the President of the United States is fundamentally different than being an athletic director or college coach. One is elected, and one is hired. It’s a difference that makes a difference.
The bottom line is that if a fan walked into your office and cursed at you, you should be able to call security and have them removed. If he/she did it again he/she may be arrested for violating the rules against harassment. Thus, it is more important than ever to have proper training and protocols in place for your athletic leadership and their constituency to know when and how to properly report and act on online harassment.
We want you to understand how to craft these policies as well as how tweets, retweets and republication of comments can be a positive experience so long as your people know the rules of the road before they begin driving.
Keep sharing on social media. It’s a great way to connect with your fans and disseminate your narrative. Don’t give up and jump off as The National Social Media Initiative in Athletics is here to help.
For more information and training specific to these issues, please contact info@teamsm2.com.
