ESPN Shuts Down Twitter Use

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On Monday, Peter King of SI.com demonstrated one of the new realities of a media landscape dominated by the immediacy and simplicity of Twitter with the following paragraph regarding the Friday frenzy that emerged linking Mike Vick to the Patriots.

"It's a weird media world we're in right now," King wrote. "My allegiance, obviously, is to SI.com, but I know if I take 10 minutes right now to dictate the item to someone on the news desk, the story will get up in 20 minutes, and we'll probably be too late. So I decide to throw a couple of Tweets up, the first at 4:59 saying Vick wasn't in Foxboro, and the second that the Pats don't want Vick and like O'Connell. Sure enough, at 5:01 p.m., Adam Schefter Tweeted that Vick wasn't in New England either. It's a crazy media world. Forgive me, Time Warner."

Though it's unknown whether the folks at the Sports Illustrated parent company granted King a papal dispensation for his decision to choose speed and Twitter over page views and SI.com, employees at ESPN are officially on notice.

Thou shalt not Tweet regarding professional matters.

ESPN basketball analyst (for now) Ric Bucher made the disclosure today -- where else? -- on his Twitter page.

"The hammer just came down, tweeps: ESPN memo prohibiting tweeting info unless it serves ESPN," Bucher wrote, capping it with a choice of words that conjures memories of a certain Twilight Zone cookbook. "Kinda figured this was coming."

And then Bucher acknowledged the distinct possibility that he has stepped into a pile of, um, trouble. "I'm probably violating some sort of policy just by telling you," Bucher wrote. "In any case, stay tuned."

Bucher also explained his understanding of the contours of the policy. "My guess is I can still tweet about my vacation/car shopping, etc. Which I will do, if I can. But the informal NBA talk is prob in jeopardy."

This policy demonstrates the concern that big media companies have regarding the extent to which their products will become undermined by Twitter feeds that cannot now -- and likely never will be -- monetized. With ESPN employees like Chris Mortensen and (as of August 17) Adam Schefter posting regular NFL updates on their Twitter feeds, people might decide simply to follow them on Twitter, and to never visit ESPN's on-air or online properties.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/08/04/espn-slams-the-door-on-tweeting/

 

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Hours after The Denver Post raised questions about whether his tweets were written in a way commonly associated with street gangs, Nuggets guard J.R. Smith pulled the plug on his Twitter page on Tuesday. He presumably didn't think it was worth all the bad publicity.

His last message to fans before it was closed late Tuesday afternoon: "ok people i love all of my fans im sorry but this will be my last tweet you know why but it is what it is love all an tke Care"

Smith's tweets raised print eyebrows after someone noticed he was occasionally replacing words that would have a "C" in them with a "K," giving some the impression of an association with the Bloods street gang. (Kudos for the capital "C" jab above, kid.) Smith tried to correct the issue in a tweet late Monday night, but ultimately decided to close the account, according to The Denver Post.

This unfortunate news comes on the heels of NFL'er Antonio Cromartie being fined $2,500 for using Twitter to complain about food at training camp and a new memo prohibiting ESPN personalities from tweeting info unless it serves the ESPN agenda.

Sadly, it appears as though the days of "unfiltered access" via Twitter, Facebook and Ustream are behind us.

Except for Marbury, of course. Ain't no one putting him in a box!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AuV3FaBxi07ppGiupI7KHn28vLYF?urn=nba,180969