Twitter Takin' Heat

Twitter isn't just in the news these days -- they are the news. In the midst of an attack that overwhelmed Twitter today, it seems as though everybody is racing to adopt policies to address the phenomenon. Here are a few examples:

I. From PCWorld: "Social Network Policies: Pentagon vs. NFL"

This week, two major organizations have made headlines by banning social networking in one way or another. The United States Marines have issued a direct order from the top that all social media is banned on Marine networks and computer devices for a period of one year. At the same time, the NFL has banned players from using Twitter.

Social media hasn’t been banned by all branches of the military. The United States Army has officially embraced Twitter as a means of pseudo-public relations and microblogging the story of their efforts in Afghanistan.

That said, perhaps it should be banned. There have been a number of high profile leaks or breaches of sensitive information via social networking. In February of this year Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) tweeted sensitive information regarding his movements while in Iraq including “Moved into green zone by helicopter Iraqi flag now over palace. Headed to new US embassy Appears calmer less chaotic than previous here [sic].”

It doesn’t even have to be the individual in question posting the information. A more recent leak occurred when the wife of the head of Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service posted details about where they live and work, who their friends are, where they go on vacation, and other sensitive information on her Facebook page.

Contrast those violations of confidential and national security type information with whether or not NFL football players are allowed to tweet from a locker room and it seems like a silly comparison. The justification from the NFL is that players may speak too openly about the conflicts and drama that go on in the locker room or leak injury information that the team would rather their opponents not be aware of.

II. From WebProNews: "ESPN To Employees: Only Tweet About ESPN"

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?