After a questionable call occurred during the Packers vs. Seahawks game earlier this week, Packers player TJ Lang took to Twitter to voice his frustration. The incident brought up a lot of questions about organizations or companies imposing social media rules for their members and employees. The NFL’s social media rules mostly enforce restrictions on social media activity before, during and after the game:
- NFL rules prohibit NFL game officials and officiating department employees from using social media at any time.
- The NFL allows players, coaches and football operations employees to use social media up to 90 minutes before kickoff and after the game once media interviews wrap up.
- Players, coaches and football operations employees are not allowed to use social media during the game, including halftime. They cannot have anyone else post on their behalf to their personal social media account, either.
Anyone who breaks the NFL’s rules may have to suffer the consequences of a fine. In 2010, Chad Ochocinco had to pay a $25,000 fine for Tweets that violated the league’s rules. NFL teams can also create their own specific rules and penalties for their players’ social media activity in addition to the NFL’s. It will be interesting to see what rules other organizations will begin to enforce as social media becomes more prevalent.
You can see a list of players who have been fined and read more about the NFL’s social media rules here.