Man Utd ban players from using Twitter

Posted on by Mark

Man Utd ban players from using Twitter.

On Wed this week, I got a call from Sky News. They asked if I would like to come into their studios at 7pm to talk Twitter, and in particular discuss the story regarding the fact that Manchester United have very recently banned all their players from having a Twitter account.

Yes, of course, was my response.. Approx 1 hour later, I was contacted to let me know, that I was not needed, as they had got a branding expert into discuss this, from a branding and marketing perspective.

So I thought that I would write my comments that I would have made on the show on my blog.

Who

The three players that wer announced that were no longer allowed to interact via Twitter were Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher

Why

Man utd, have not actually announced why, but I am presuming that it has something to do with the following. The club may well be worried about a potential PR disaster should the players announce something that is controversial. The club amy well be worried regarding the players damaging the goodwill of the brand that has been created, again by saying something foolish. The club may well be concerned that they no longer are controlling the message, and finally the club may well feel that they want all that type of information to go out via their own website, so controlling the message, and so driving more traffic to their site and to their club shop.

What I would have said

Twitter allows the players to interact and engage with their fans like never before. It allows fans to better appreciate what its like to be a pro footballer, it would allow players to talk about their other interests, engage with fans, answer questions, provide information and insight into their lives both on and off the pitch

So Should they be Banned?

In my opinion, absolutely… No.. What is needed, is education. The players and the clubs need to be educated on what the players can and cannot talk about, the players need to be educated on the impact that there comments may have, the clubs need to learn that Twitter is not a broadcast station, but a communication channel, and embrace that.

And finally, Twitter allows players and clubs to be open, honest and transparent about things, to listen to their fans / supporters, and to build a much stronger relationship with their fan base, which ultimately may well lead to more merchandise being sold.

What do you think? Should pro football players be allowed & encouraged to use Twitter?

  • http://www.thisisspain.info Steve Hall

    I am a HUGE Man Utd and would be interested in talking to the players – especially Giggsy. My belief would be however that it would be a ghost writer.

    Rooney near a keyboard??? Mmmm, one typo and it would go through the window!

  • http://www.guruinabottle.com Ardi Kolah

    It does sound a bit Big Brother-ish to tell footballers they shoouldn’t Twitter and it raises a number of key legal issues which clearly the management of Man United haven’t fully grasped. Let me explain.

    All footballers have very detailed contracts with their clubs and there will be clauses that deal with conduct, ie not doing something that will bring the club or its sponsors into disrepute, etc. There’s no distinction about the type of behaviour expected when talking to the media or conducting themselves in private as they are probably the most famous people on the planet. Therefore the singling out of Twitter as a medium of communication looks ridiculous.

    Man Utd also owns the personality rights of these players when they are representing the club. So, for example, each of these players has been paid a substantial amount of money for the use of their likeness and image on merchandise that the club shop and other retailers will sell.

    Likewise, when they pull on an England team strip and play for the national side, those personality rights as an England player are owned by the Football Association and again there’s a detailed contract in existence for the use of those rights.

    What Man Utd can’t do, in my opinion, is seek to place any kind of control over the use of each player’s private rights as a citizen.

    The right to Freedom of Expression is protected under the Human Rights Act 1998 that incorporates Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), so at the minimum it’s questionable whether Man Utd management have acted within the law by imposing this “ban”.

    Furthermore, Article 8 of the ECHR provides that everyone has the right to Respect for his Private and Family life, his home and his correspondence.

    It’s therefore arguable that attempting to fetter right this is also unlawful.

    Mark is absoutely spot on with the point about education. And in my opinion it applies equally to the Man Utd club management too.

    Players of course need to be trained in the use of all forms of communication and training in the use of Twitter should be mandatory.

    So instead of trying to “ban” Twitter, the management at Man Utd should be ENCOURAGING the players to use it in a responsible way as its a powerful tool.

    More information about law and marketing can be found in Essential Law for Marketers as well as in the new 2nd edition that can be pre-ordered from this link http://www.guruinabottle.com/sales-marketing-and-communication-books/marketing-books/essential-law.html