President’s Message ANGIE RIVIELLO
Social Media Beware I
know it’s discussed and we all know the right answers but it amazes me how many coaches do not make the right choices. Social media is a wonderful communication tool but it can also be just as disastrous. Coaches need to remember that they are paid professionals that mainly work with young athletes and are a very influential part of their lives. We are role models and need to be held to a higher standard than most. I see it with many younger coaches and things that are posted or tweeted. You need to remember that negative things always get back. Talking about a skater or another coach will indeed make it back to that person and then there are issues. We all need to think before we post and that goes for pictures also. I know at the facility I work for, we implement strong social media guidelines for our staff members. If they are in a city uniform and they post a picture at a party or event where it’s not appropriate, they will be disciplined or if it is severe enough they will be removed from staff. We make the employees sign a code of conduct each year and the social media aspect is listed within the code. The Committee on Professional Standards (COPS) has implemented Social Media Guidelines since this has become a wide spread issue. Please take a moment to read over the guidelines, think about it and act on it. Be careful and be cautious for the sake of professionalism. The guidelines in their entirety can be found at www.skatepsa.com/Ethics-Guidelines-for-SocialMedia.htm. Selected points of the Social Media Guidelines are at right.
Please remember, it is solicitous to recruit skaters using any form of social media. Be considerate, be respectful, and remember that coaches are role models to many people.
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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2013
Excerpts from the PSA Social Media Guidelines ETHICS GUIDELINES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA Social media is defined as any form of online publication or presence that allows end users to engage in multi-directional conversations in or around the content on the website. A large percentage of internet traffic is centered on the use of social media. Social media includes, but is not limited to: Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Twitter, Second Life, YouTube, Linked In, blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, document sharing and email. The spirit of social media is about leveraging the positive ways in which email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. can benefit us as professionals. Determining how to balance personal and professional information is important. In all aspects of social media, the individual should keep in mind that everyone does have the right to self-expression; however, such expressions can have possible consequences, both positive and negative. THINGS TO BE CONSIDERED • Communications with minors must be for professional reasons only. • Coaches should inform and gain permission from the parents of their athletes for the various ways they plan to communicate with their skaters: personal cell phone, email, social networking tools, etc. • Coaches should not email athletes from a private or personal email account. All correspondence should occur via a work email account. • If utilizing a social networking tool to communicate with athletes, coaches should create a separate account for coaching interactions. (i.e., the account that is used for personal interaction should not be used for interactions with their adolescent athletes.) • Coaches should refrain from discussing or making comments that may be interpreted as a slur or are demeaning towards another individual, especially another coach. Coaches should not use commentary deemed defamatory, obscene, proprietary, inflammatory or libelous... • Coaches are expected to represent themselves truthfully and refrain from picking fights. • Coaches’ online behavior should reflect the same standard of honesty, respect and consideration we would have in a face-to- face interaction. • Coaches should know the media they are using, and know how to set privacy settings, etc. Coaches should post only what they want the world to see. Imagine their students, their parents, and a club or rink administrator visiting the page. It is not like posting something to a web site or blog and then realizing the story or photo should be taken down. On a social networking page, basically, once something is posted, it may be available even after it is removed from the page.