Players Associations, Sports Leagues, the NCAA, and the Olympics Must Say No To Social Media Monitoring of Athletes

Professional and amateur sports must say no to forcing social media monitoring software (e.g. malware) on their professional, amateur, and student athletes. Criminals in prison and those under house arrest need to be monitored and tracked; however, young men and women should be provided social media life skills.

Institutions that deploy social media monitoring services are wasting their precious resources since crowdsourcing already performs this service for free. Monitoring athletes' social media usage is a reactive approach that is doomed to failure. A recent CBS Sports article touted social media monitoring of professional and amateur athletes as something that both labor and management could agree on. The article further states that within 2-3 minutes after an alleged inappropriate post a cautionary e-mail is sent to both the monitor (a school or franchise) and an athlete. What the article does not discuss is that once a Tweet or a Facebook post has been made it can never be deleted from the Internet. Within seconds, a Tweet can be re-tweeted and a Facebook post can be shared hundreds of times.

Therefore, how can social media monitoring help? It can't. Remember Congressman Weiner's accidental tweet that was meant to be a direct message. Within a few minutes after Mr. Weiner Tweeted a message to a college student that included a link to a photograph of himself in his underwear he tried to delete it. However, once content has been uploaded online it is too late. Mr. Weiner learned this the hard way (no pun intended). Thousands of people were following Mr. Weiner on Twitter so no social media monitoring service could have saved Mr. Weiner from his own stupidity.

Social Media monitoring is like using a condom after sex. It is too late to offer any protection. Once an alleged inappropriate message has been sent out via social media a monitoring service is worthless because it can't protect an athlete or an institution from the consequences of an alleged inappropriate post. Social Media monitoring services are unable to offer protection because they are reactive and not proactive. In other words, these services are fool's gold.

There are multiple major legal issues involved with social media monitoring of athletes. These may include First Amendment, employment, and tort liability issues. Those organizations that deploy social media monitoring of their athletes are not only wasting their time and money on a worthless reactive service, but they also are creating major legal liability issues. Furthermore, it is very easy to change a social media account name and there is the problem of fake accounts and hacked accounts.

The bottom line is that professional and amateur sports organizations along with colleges and universities should not deploy social media monitoring of their athletes unless they are interested in wasting their money and incurring unanticipated legal liabilities.

To learn how to avoid social media legal liability in professional and amateur sports you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

Copyright 2011 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.

Professional Athletes and Celebrities are Harmed by Social Media Credential Fraud

Social Media Credential Fraud may destroy endorsement opportunities for professional athletes and celebrities in the digital space. Sponsors and advertisers are trying to determine the value of a Twitter follower, a Facebook Like, a Klout score and other social media metrics. Monetary and personal decisions are being made based upon social media profiles. Therefore, eliminating Social Media Credential Fraud is extremely important for the marketing industry.

If Social Media Credential Fraud is not stopped in its tracks it will destroy the social media marketing industry before it has even gotten off the ground. In 2009, the FTC updated its advertising regulations and within the last few months it has started to crack down on unethical digital marketing practices. The FTC has not even begun to flex its regulatory muscles and activities like Social Media Credential Fraud and other unethical and misleading marketing activities will not stop until the FTC makes cleaning up this space a priority.

Fortune 500 companies have been hesitant to embrace social media marketing until recently because there are few reliable metrics to measure success. Some professional athletes and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian are already making money due to their social media activity. This is due in part not only because of their popularity but also because advertisers are confident that these professional athletes and celebrities have real organic Twitter Following to Followers figures and other accurate and verifiable social media footprints.

The potential for an expansion of endorsement opportunities in the digital space will be destroyed if those who are perpetrating Social Media Credential Fraud are not punished by the FTC. Therefore, I challenge the marketing industry to take proactive measures against those who perpetrate fraudulent digital activity before it further inhibits the digital marketing space from blossoming. Until the marketing industry eliminates Social Media Credential Fraud and other unethical and misleading activities, sponsors and advertisers will not be able to accurately determine their return on investment for their digital advertising campaigns.

To learn how to how professional athletes and celebrities may avoid violating the FTC endorsement and testimonial guidelines and how to fully monetize one's social media assets you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

Copyright 2011 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.