UPDATE: ESPN has responded to the rumored Twitter policy, by releasing their “ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR SOCIAL NETWORKING”
“ESPN regards social networks such as message boards, conversation pages and other forms of social networking such as Facebook and Twitter as important new forms of content. As such, we expect to hold all talent who participate in social networking to the same standards we hold for interaction with our audiences across TV, radio and our digital platforms. This applies to all ESPN Talent, anchors, play by play, hosts, analysts, commentators, reporters and writers who participate in any form of personal social networking that contain sports related content.
ESPN Digital Media is currently building and testing modules designed to publish Twitter and Facebook entries simultaneously on ESPN.com, SportsCenter.com, Page 2, ESPN Profile pages and other similar pages across our web site and mobile platforms. The plan is to fully deploy these modules this fall.“
The next time ESPN makes a policy change for their employees, they need to be careful with the wording to avoid this type of media coverage.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: A rumor has begun floating around tonight that ESPN has all but ended employee tweeting – unless it serves ESPN. But, what does this mean exactly? Are ESPN employees suppose to become mindless robots who only talk about ESPN, with no mention of their pesonal lives?
ESPN NBA analyst, Ric Bucher, seems to be thinking along those same lines, as he tweeted the following (which just might defy ESPN’s new tweet policy):
No official details have been made public from ESPN, but if this turns out to be true… ESPN should expect a mass unfollowing of their employees. I mean, who wants to follow glorified ESPN RSS feeds?
As an avid ESPN watcher, I can tell you first hand that Twitter has invaded almost every aspect of the channel. From interviews to sports reports, for example, ESPN FirstTake (@ESPN_FirstTake ) seems to mention Twitter about every 10 – 15 minutes.
It’s going to be quite interesting to see how this plays out.
Do you agree with ESPN’s Twitter policy? Tell us.
