Social Media GuidelinesJanuary 2010

Introduction

We think it is brilliant that Yorkshire CCC players are engaging withtechnology and having an online presence.

We don’t have a social mediapolicy as such, because we don’t want to tell you what do to. Instead,

we haveproduced these guidelines in the hope that they will give you something tothink about and help you to protect your reputation.

Public

Social media is a great way to raise your profile, express your views and havea laugh. However, many social networking sites are by their very naturesocial, open and public! This means that whilst they can be used to raise your profile amongst the public, they also throw you open to greater public scrutinye.g. the public get an even closer look at you! So whilst social media can be a great opportunity, with this opportunity comesgreater responsibility.

Permanent

Be aware that what you post and comment is likely to be permanent andwhilst you may intend for it to remain private, there is a chance of it cominginto the public domain at a later date. Unfortunately the conversations wehave online are not the same as you would have down the pub over a pint. The online world is different from the real world and high standards of behaviour are needed at all times…a throwaway comment can be

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misconstrued and makes great tabloid fodder! You don’t know who is readingyour comments online (many of our supporters are web savvy youngsters).The best advice is to think before you post – will it affect the Club, supportersor sponsors? If the answer is ‘yes’, it is best to hang fire.

Facebook

You may want to remove or untag

photos that don’t show you in the mostflattering light or don’t project the shining image of a professionalsportsman. Even if your profile is set to private, photos appear in other people’s albums, so do untag or ask people to remove photos. Likewise whatyou post on other people’s walls can be viewed by that person’s friends andwill be available to everyone if their profile is public. You may get supporters trying to add you as a friend on Facebook. The bestadvice is to create a ‘Become a Fan of’ group and direct them to this instead.This is a great way to build your profile and communicate with fans, whilstprotecting your privacy on Facebook.

Twitter

The micro-blogging site is

the

thing at the moment. It allows you to answer thequestion ‘what are you doing’ in 140 characters. The way Twitter works is, you‘follow’ people and then hopefully

after some interesting Tweets people willbegin to ‘follow’ you. Remember: your followers get to see all your Tweets. Cricketers James Anderson and Graham Swann have raised their profile

considerably with some light hearted banter this summer. In addition, to answering ‘what are you doing’, there are two types of messageyou can send. People can either @ message or direct (DM) you. It isimportant to know that the @ message is public, whilst DM is private! Also,Twitter is permanent! Yes permanent! Whilst you can delete Tweets from your

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feed, once they have been published, they will remain in other people’sfeeds forever! If someone does post something derogatory, the best advice is to ignore it. Byall means get in to reasoned debate, but don’t engage in conversations whereinsults are being bandied about. The relative

anonymity of the internet meansthat people may be more likely to say something derogatory or controversial than they would in the real world – so if anything, higher standards of behaviour and a thicker skin are required online!

Linked In

A professional site that is great for business networking. There are manybusiness people on here that can advise about your career after cricket, so itmay well be worth setting up a profile and ‘linking in’ with like minded people.

Flickr

Is a site used for sharing and commenting on photos. For any aspiringphotographers it is a great way to plug your work and many bloggers use it asa database of photos. However, it may be worth putting your settings on‘private’, unless you want the whole world to be able to see your pics!

Bebo and Myspace

These social networking sites are predominantly used by youngsters, so if youare speaking with people on here, use appropriate language.

Blogging

Your views as professional cricketers are valuable, so blogging is a great wayto sharpen your written skills and develop an off the pitch profile. With thelaunch of Pongo Cricket you should consider writing blogs, it could be thestart of a burgeoning career in the media!