Comments on: Dear NBA: You Can’t Have It Both Ways on Twitter and Blogs

By: Geoff Livingston

Geoff Livingston — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:46:04 +0000

I think the NBA did the right thing. He abused his right as a spokesperson, and the NBA has absolutely every right to say stop if you want to continue working in our League. You can’t have your cake and your pie, too.

If Gilbert wants to tweet, he’s a free man. He stopped of his own volition to adhere to the NBA’s request because he still wants to work there.

By: Mark Story

Mark Story — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:39:50 +0000

Kevin,

I may have intentionally take it to the extreme a bit on that issue, but what about injured players – the guys in suits on the bench? Should they be allowed to tweet?

By: Mark Story

Mark Story — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:38:58 +0000

Really good comment about ownership, Eric. Didn’t think of that.

By: Kevin Hood

Kevin Hood — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:26:59 +0000

I love the NBA and Twitter, but come on now. There is no reason a player needs to be tweeting during a game. I want my favorite players with their eyes on the ball the entire game, whether they are on the court or bench. Tweeting little updates during a game is stupid when they should be focusing on the game, especially if they are a losing team.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:09:18 +0000

Hmmmm, I’m going to avoid the whole second amendment, Arenas is an idiot and irresponsible gun owner and so is the other guy arguments. They’ll add nothing here.

As so many social media pros are fond of espousing, being genuine, open and engaging are the cornerstones of “doing social media right.” But here’s a case where some PR person (probably a lawyer or three) thought it better to simply eliminate the problem. Sweep it under the rug. But this only made the problem worse.

Part of why I’ve put executives in front of a WordPress terminal or a Twitter text box is because of their personality and what may happen. People want to see the real person. And as every single athlete I follow has shown, we’re not getting ghost tweets or posts.

The other issue that comes to mind here is data ownership. Who owns the data an employee creates? Does the NBA have any legal right to control what is posted to an assumedly personal social media account?

The NBA jumped before it looked at what was below them with regard to “social media.” It will be interesting to see how it responds in the future.