Premier League issues Social Media guidelines to clubs

In a breakthrough for Football Social Media in the UK, the Premier League this week issued clubs with Social Media guidelines in order to help protect players and clubs, as well as ensure clubs got the most out of their channels. The Premier League website reported,

‘The guidelines focus on a number of areas including the benefits of using social media to engage with supporters, understanding the potential audience of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and recognising that it is possible to commit offences online via social media.

“Social media is doing a good job of allowing fans to feel closer to the players”

– Richard Scudamore

Advice is offered on the endorsement of brands, goods and services, while confidential information about team selection, injuries or tactics is prohibited from being disclosed on social media.

Also outlined is The FA regulatory role in respect of disciplinary action that can be taken against players who make improper comments on social media websites.’

The Premier League were very keen to highlight the positive benefits of using Social Media as a way for fans to get closer to their clubs/players.

For the longest time we’ve been eager to see clubs and footballing institutes get to grips with Social Media policies, especially after a long run of mishaps and embarrassments on the likes of Twitter. This demonstrates the next step in Football Social Media and we wouldn’t be surprised to see clubs themselves begin to tailor their own policies and training programmes (like this one Birmingham City use for all of their academy players as standard) in the next few months.

At this time the Social Media guidelines have not been made publicly available. Have a read of the Premier League’s statement in full.