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There's trouble @Twitter
Governing bodies are getting worried about a lack of control over sports stars tweeting their thoughts free from the filter of spin
Amir Khan uses it to trash potential opponents, Andy Murray to poke fun at his entourage, Kevin Pietersen to express his innermost thoughts on England's selectors, and Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Savage to wind each other up. The number of sports stars addicted to Twitter, the social networking and microblogging site, is growing fast. It is rapidly changing the way they interact with the media and the public and for some it is already a costly pastime.
Tweet in haste, repent at leisure has become the mantra for those caught out in recent weeks. What was a minor irritant for some sports governing bodies has become a serious matter. The only issue that has diverted senior England and Wales Cricket Board executives from the match-fixing crisis in recent weeks has been dealing with a string of troublesome and foul-mouthed tweets.
First the Under-19 international Azeem Rafiq was banned for a month and fined £500 for describing John Abrahams, the ECB's elite player development manager, as a "useless wanker" after he was dropped as captain. Then Pietersen railed against the decision to drop him from England's one-day squad as a "****‑up". He was fined, apologised and claimed he had not meant to send his message for public consumption.
Shortly afterwards the Hampshire and England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas took aim at the ECB's national selector, Geoff Miller, calling him a "complete knob" and a "F'ing prick". He has been fined £1,000 by his county and is awaiting punishment from the ECB.
The ECB has claimed that talk of an outright ban being written into players' contracts is wide of the mark. But the England team's managing director, Hugh Morris, and the team director, Andy Flower, have found themselves spending too long debating the finer points of social networking etiquette.
"This is still an ongoing discussion between team management, the Professional Cricketers' Association and the ECB," said the ECB director of marketing and communications, Steve Elworthy. "But it's more about the management of it. It's an education process and a case of the guys realising how far and wide this thing goes. I think the positives outweigh the negatives."
The popularity of the service has grown exponentially in the past 18 months. Inspiring devotion among its fans and bafflement among its detractors, it allows users to update the rest of the world on their movements and thoughts in 140-character bulletins. Which, for a section of society with larger than average egos and often plenty of dead time, is too much of a temptation to resist. The more popular attract tens of thousands of followers. The most popular British figures on Twitter are the band Coldplay (more than 3m followers), Lily Allen (2.3m) and Stephen Fry (1.7m).
In sport the basketball star Shaquille O'Neal leads the way with more than 3m and Lance Armstrong has more than 2m. The British golfer Ian Poulter has more than 1m and in tennis Andy Roddick has 360,000 and Andy Murray more than 200,000. Footballers have a bit of catching up to do.
The potentially damaging consequences were further demonstrated last week by the Australian Olympic swimming champion Stephanie Rice, who was dropped by her sponsor Jaguar after tweeting an apparently ****phobic insult in the wake of a narrow Tri‑Nations victory for the Wallabies over the Springboks. The slur – she tweeted "Suck on that ******s" – sparked a public debate and led to her losing not only her sponsorship deal but also her £60,000 car. Rice has apologised and insists she is not ****phobic.
But for all the pitfalls, there are positives. In an age where many fans feel increasingly disconnected from the sports stars they venerate, hidden from view behind the walls of their mock-Tudor piles, Twitter may represent an opportunity to close the chasm marginally.
"On the one hand we've gone through this process in the last 10 or 20 years where people have complained that sports stars have become increasingly anodyne in interviews," said John V Willshire, the chief innovation officer at PHD, a media agency that represents Cadbury and Sainsbury's.
"So with something like Twitter, it's phenomenally powerful to feel you're one step away from that person. But they've also got to realise that all this is open and that anyone can see anything you're saying. It's a phenomenal culture change. Suddenly one person can connect to millions of people instantly without going through an editor or a brand manager or any other mediator.
"These technologies are a force for good that can go really badly wrong. Everyone is learning how to use it but also how to react to it. Half the shock is that we are surprised to hear the unfiltered thoughts of sports stars. We're not used to this being in the public domain."
Ferdinand is one of the most savvy in his Twitter use. In common with his portfolio of outside interests including film production and a digital magazine Ferdinand appears acutely aware of the value of using Twitter to give a limited window into his world. And because he is able to engage on his terms he is perhaps more honest than he might be in a TV or newspaper interview.
While he actually gives little away, by genuinely interacting with his so-called "Twitfam" he has altered perceptions. Murray, one of the earliest and most enthusiastic tweeters, achieved a similar feat. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the tennis player Laura Robson and the Olympic diver Tom Daley have also enthusiastically embraced it: for a teenage sports star trapped in an endless routine of training, hotels and departure lounges it must offer a tantalising glimpse of the real world.
Less well-known names have also garnered an impressive following on Twitter simply by having something to say. This week Rohan Ricketts, the former Spurs midfielder now plying his trade in Moldova with Dacia Chisinau, became popular when a link to an article he had written lifting the lid on footballers' sex lives was extensively circulated on Twitter.
Twitchy football clubs are nervous about Twitter, wary that their players will give something away or – worse – air their dirty linen in public. Many have imposed outright bans on their players tweeting, fearful of the consequences not only on the field of play but on their commercial value. Newspaper journalists arriving at Manchester United's Carrington training complex were informed on Friday that they were no longer allowed to tweet or text from press conferences.
Leicester Tigers' director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, warned his players last month that he would exact violent retribution if they were found tweeting, venting his fury at the back‑row forward Jordan Crane for saying he would be out for three months with an injury.
"He is banned from tweeting. The next time he does that I will break both his ankles. None of our players will be tweeting or Facebooking anything about Leicester Rugby Club ever again," said Cockerill. Yet the club have their own official Twitter feed.
The dangers of Tweeting out of turn were highlighted by Darren Bent's tirade at Spurs during a fractious transfer window in July 2009, enraging his chairman, Daniel Levy, when he posted the message: 'Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go Stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop ****ing around levy." But having got his wish, Bent is back tweeting prolifically as @DB11.
However, while they are fretting about the talent, governing bodies are also desperately searching for the best way to use Twitter to engage with their own fans.
Mark Whittle, head of media relations at the Football Association, said that South Africa 2010 was "the Twitter World Cup" despite the fact that Fabio Capello imposed an outright ban on his players, believing it is also fundamentally changing the relationship journalists have with players and each other.
The FA insists that its players engage in no external media during England duty and argues it should include social networking sites. "We embrace Twitter, we monitor it and we use it where appropriate. But ultimately we're not there to get fans closer to the players, we're there to win football matches. That's Capello's edict," he said.
In football in particular there is also a powerful sense of dressing‑room omerta at play that prevents current players from speaking too openly. There are exceptions. Ryan Babel lives up to his name with a frequently unintelligible stream of consciousness. But those who have a media career to promote, among them Savage, tend to speak more freely. "I advise my sports clients not to have Twitter accounts," says the former News of the World editor turned PR Phil Hall, whose clients include John Terry and several big investors in football clubs. "In a team sport there is a real danger that you'll inadvertently give an advantage to the opposition. It's very easy to be indiscreet, without thinking through what you are saying."
Yet Hall can see why it appeals to entrepreneurial sports stars looking to feed their ego and with an eye on their "brand". He said: "The media is changing fast. Twitter turns you into a franchise. Instead of someone like Rio Ferdinand being part of the Manchester United franchise he is effectively creating his own."
Governing bodies are getting worried about a lack of control over sports stars tweeting their thoughts free from the filter of spin
Amir Khan uses it to trash potential opponents, Andy Murray to poke fun at his entourage, Kevin Pietersen to express his innermost thoughts on England's selectors, and Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Savage to wind each other up. The number of sports stars addicted to Twitter, the social networking and microblogging site, is growing fast. It is rapidly changing the way they interact with the media and the public and for some it is already a costly pastime.
Tweet in haste, repent at leisure has become the mantra for those caught out in recent weeks. What was a minor irritant for some sports governing bodies has become a serious matter. The only issue that has diverted senior England and Wales Cricket Board executives from the match-fixing crisis in recent weeks has been dealing with a string of troublesome and foul-mouthed tweets.
First the Under-19 international Azeem Rafiq was banned for a month and fined £500 for describing John Abrahams, the ECB's elite player development manager, as a "useless wanker" after he was dropped as captain. Then Pietersen railed against the decision to drop him from England's one-day squad as a "****‑up". He was fined, apologised and claimed he had not meant to send his message for public consumption.
Shortly afterwards the Hampshire and England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas took aim at the ECB's national selector, Geoff Miller, calling him a "complete knob" and a "F'ing prick". He has been fined £1,000 by his county and is awaiting punishment from the ECB.
The ECB has claimed that talk of an outright ban being written into players' contracts is wide of the mark. But the England team's managing director, Hugh Morris, and the team director, Andy Flower, have found themselves spending too long debating the finer points of social networking etiquette.
"This is still an ongoing discussion between team management, the Professional Cricketers' Association and the ECB," said the ECB director of marketing and communications, Steve Elworthy. "But it's more about the management of it. It's an education process and a case of the guys realising how far and wide this thing goes. I think the positives outweigh the negatives."
The popularity of the service has grown exponentially in the past 18 months. Inspiring devotion among its fans and bafflement among its detractors, it allows users to update the rest of the world on their movements and thoughts in 140-character bulletins. Which, for a section of society with larger than average egos and often plenty of dead time, is too much of a temptation to resist. The more popular attract tens of thousands of followers. The most popular British figures on Twitter are the band Coldplay (more than 3m followers), Lily Allen (2.3m) and Stephen Fry (1.7m).
In sport the basketball star Shaquille O'Neal leads the way with more than 3m and Lance Armstrong has more than 2m. The British golfer Ian Poulter has more than 1m and in tennis Andy Roddick has 360,000 and Andy Murray more than 200,000. Footballers have a bit of catching up to do.
The potentially damaging consequences were further demonstrated last week by the Australian Olympic swimming champion Stephanie Rice, who was dropped by her sponsor Jaguar after tweeting an apparently ****phobic insult in the wake of a narrow Tri‑Nations victory for the Wallabies over the Springboks. The slur – she tweeted "Suck on that ******s" – sparked a public debate and led to her losing not only her sponsorship deal but also her £60,000 car. Rice has apologised and insists she is not ****phobic.
But for all the pitfalls, there are positives. In an age where many fans feel increasingly disconnected from the sports stars they venerate, hidden from view behind the walls of their mock-Tudor piles, Twitter may represent an opportunity to close the chasm marginally.
"On the one hand we've gone through this process in the last 10 or 20 years where people have complained that sports stars have become increasingly anodyne in interviews," said John V Willshire, the chief innovation officer at PHD, a media agency that represents Cadbury and Sainsbury's.
"So with something like Twitter, it's phenomenally powerful to feel you're one step away from that person. But they've also got to realise that all this is open and that anyone can see anything you're saying. It's a phenomenal culture change. Suddenly one person can connect to millions of people instantly without going through an editor or a brand manager or any other mediator.
"These technologies are a force for good that can go really badly wrong. Everyone is learning how to use it but also how to react to it. Half the shock is that we are surprised to hear the unfiltered thoughts of sports stars. We're not used to this being in the public domain."
Ferdinand is one of the most savvy in his Twitter use. In common with his portfolio of outside interests including film production and a digital magazine Ferdinand appears acutely aware of the value of using Twitter to give a limited window into his world. And because he is able to engage on his terms he is perhaps more honest than he might be in a TV or newspaper interview.
While he actually gives little away, by genuinely interacting with his so-called "Twitfam" he has altered perceptions. Murray, one of the earliest and most enthusiastic tweeters, achieved a similar feat. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the tennis player Laura Robson and the Olympic diver Tom Daley have also enthusiastically embraced it: for a teenage sports star trapped in an endless routine of training, hotels and departure lounges it must offer a tantalising glimpse of the real world.
Less well-known names have also garnered an impressive following on Twitter simply by having something to say. This week Rohan Ricketts, the former Spurs midfielder now plying his trade in Moldova with Dacia Chisinau, became popular when a link to an article he had written lifting the lid on footballers' sex lives was extensively circulated on Twitter.
Twitchy football clubs are nervous about Twitter, wary that their players will give something away or – worse – air their dirty linen in public. Many have imposed outright bans on their players tweeting, fearful of the consequences not only on the field of play but on their commercial value. Newspaper journalists arriving at Manchester United's Carrington training complex were informed on Friday that they were no longer allowed to tweet or text from press conferences.
Leicester Tigers' director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, warned his players last month that he would exact violent retribution if they were found tweeting, venting his fury at the back‑row forward Jordan Crane for saying he would be out for three months with an injury.
"He is banned from tweeting. The next time he does that I will break both his ankles. None of our players will be tweeting or Facebooking anything about Leicester Rugby Club ever again," said Cockerill. Yet the club have their own official Twitter feed.
The dangers of Tweeting out of turn were highlighted by Darren Bent's tirade at Spurs during a fractious transfer window in July 2009, enraging his chairman, Daniel Levy, when he posted the message: 'Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go Stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop ****ing around levy." But having got his wish, Bent is back tweeting prolifically as @DB11.
However, while they are fretting about the talent, governing bodies are also desperately searching for the best way to use Twitter to engage with their own fans.
Mark Whittle, head of media relations at the Football Association, said that South Africa 2010 was "the Twitter World Cup" despite the fact that Fabio Capello imposed an outright ban on his players, believing it is also fundamentally changing the relationship journalists have with players and each other.
The FA insists that its players engage in no external media during England duty and argues it should include social networking sites. "We embrace Twitter, we monitor it and we use it where appropriate. But ultimately we're not there to get fans closer to the players, we're there to win football matches. That's Capello's edict," he said.
In football in particular there is also a powerful sense of dressing‑room omerta at play that prevents current players from speaking too openly. There are exceptions. Ryan Babel lives up to his name with a frequently unintelligible stream of consciousness. But those who have a media career to promote, among them Savage, tend to speak more freely. "I advise my sports clients not to have Twitter accounts," says the former News of the World editor turned PR Phil Hall, whose clients include John Terry and several big investors in football clubs. "In a team sport there is a real danger that you'll inadvertently give an advantage to the opposition. It's very easy to be indiscreet, without thinking through what you are saying."
Yet Hall can see why it appeals to entrepreneurial sports stars looking to feed their ego and with an eye on their "brand". He said: "The media is changing fast. Twitter turns you into a franchise. Instead of someone like Rio Ferdinand being part of the Manchester United franchise he is effectively creating his own."
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