Daily Telegraph ran with reports from the NRL Media Manager’s meetings with NRL and Facebook is social suicide and Penrith Panthers ban players from Facebook, Twitter after Australian Federal Police raise security issues.

Should Athletes be on Facebook?

YES, why shouldn’t they be able to stay in touch with family & friends like the rest of us?  That is the key, family & friends, people they know.  Facebook is a personal social network, you should connect with people you know IRL, In Real Life.

Should Athletes connected with fans on Facebook?

NO, not using their personal account as they lose their privacy and the privacy of the people they are connected with.

YES, they can connect using the correct platform in Facebook’s case the Fan Page.  The Fan Page allows fans to get updates from an athlete but provides the athlete with the separation from the fans.

Examples of athlete Fan Pages include – AFL’s Harry O’Brien & NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal or for a company like Sports Geek.

How can clubs & leagues help?

• They can ensure players understand the privacy settings in Facebook to remain invisible to the general public.
  • Choose Your Privacy Settings –> Basic Directory Information  –> Search Friends Only
  • Limit Friend Requests –> Friends of Friends Only
  • Hide Friend List –> Friends Only
• They can assure fans that NO athletes are on Facebook accepting friend requests from fans.
• They can point fans to official fan pages & sites of athletes. Like the Phoenix Suns do with Twitter accounts.
• They can report fake profiles to authorities.  Contact Sports Geek for more info on how to eliminate fake accounts in your sport.

Want to know more about how athletes can effectively use social media platforms?  Then please check out our Social Media Athlete Training program.

Other articles that may be of interest include:

• Athlete Twitter fakes!!! Ah who is real?
• Fake sports stars can damage a personal brand
• 10 New Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
• Facebook Identity Theft Protection Guide: 6 tips to protect your identity on Facebook
• Every Privacy Feature explained

After being inspired by the speakers at #scau & #scnz you are back at work full of enthusiasm to tackle the world of sports digital marketing.

Need a little refresher? Here are tweets from the @SportConference Twitter feed (powered by @_SportsGeek_) you liked so much you retweeted them.

What is a retweet?

According to @BrianSolis

ReTweet (RT) means many things – endorsement, a form of social currency (now you owe me), appreciation, curation, appreciation…

A RT is a great way to share a great link or information from someone you are following with your Twitter followers.  Retweets are the mechanism by which information can go viral on Twitter.  Sometimes all it takes is 5 simple letters to get a RT —> pls RT.

@SportConference Greatest Tweets from #scau & #scnz

@SportConference Athletes Are Gaining More Control Over Their Brand And Marketing feat @wolvescmo http://bit.ly/bnLGr5 from #scau #scnz Mon Jul 19 15:24:27 2010 via bitly
Retweeted by 1 person

@SportConference Driver for iamatrailblazersfan.com was to provide a safe haven for passionate @pdxtrailblazers fans before Facebook #scnz Mon Jul 19 12:43:59 2010 via TweetDeck
Retweeted by 1 person

Thanks to everyone who retweeted and joined the conversation at the conference, next year we promise to provide wi-fi at both venues

One more thing, pls RT

Many delegates in Sydney for SRG Conference’s “Fan Engagement in the Digital Age” (aka #scau) were wowed by remarkable jaw-dropping numbers from Pedro Duarte Gonzalez as the Mobile Marketing Manager for Real Madrid.

Follow the Real Madrid on Twitter (@RealMadrid) and on Facebook.

Send us a Twitter testimonial what you loved about the @SportConference – #scau or #scnz

As promised here is another presentation from #scau from Paul Barber CEO of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Follow the Vancouver Whitecaps on Twitter (@VancouverMLS) as they enter the MLS in 2011.

Paul talked of his experience in new media and professional sport at the Vancouver Whitecaps & the development of the One Hotspur program at Tottenham.

Send us a Twitter testimonial what you loved about the conferences – #scau or #scnz

Still collating my notes (or should that be tweets) from 2 great conferences in Sydney & Auckland.

A big thanks to Simon Arkwright from Sport Research Group for inviting me to speak at the conferences as well as collecting a stellar lineup that will be tough to match next year.

Twitter testimonial

The response from the delegates to the conference was amazing, tell us in a tweet what you loved – #scau or #scnz

It was great to see interaction from around the world as the sports business world joined in the conversation via Twitter.  Welcome to all the newbies to Twitter as many people joined Twitter while attending the conferences.

Link up

If you want to link up with other delegates on Twitter then check out the @SportsConference/Attendees list.

Additionally if you want to connect with sports marketers then join these Linkedin Groups – Asia Pacific Sport Marketers or Sports Geek on LinkedIn.

While you’re in connecting mode, please connect with me on LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/seancallanan.

Here is my presentation from the Sydney & Auckland conference, stay tuned I will be uploading more presentations from the great lineup of speakers soon.

Here is my presentation in PDF form for easy printing.

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

“Sport Is Fantastic 2010″

Eden Park, Auckland – July 19 & 20

Follow @SportConference for tweets on the latest from the sports digital marketing world.

Great lineup of speakers for 2 whole days at Auckland’s Eden Park.

Remember to hashtag it #scnz

If you follow #scau in Sydney last week, get more info from Auckland

“Fan & Participant Engagement in the Digital Age”

Star City Hotel, Sydney – July 13 & 14

Follow @SportConference for tweets on the latest from the sports digital marketing world.

Great lineup of speakers for 2 whole days at Sydney’s Star City.

Remember to hashtag it #scau

Next week in Auckland #scnz

From Forbes.com What The Knicks Told LeBron: Come To New York And Make $1 Billion

Here is the InterBrand presentation that backs up the numbers that the New York Knicks should be the destination for @KingJames.

Perhaps the Knicks could’ve used this fan photo added to LeBron’s Facebook page to the presentation as well?

If you don’t know by know LeBron James will choosing his next NBA team (or perhaps staying in Cleveland) via ESPN in a prime time special at 9pm ET.

Why will LeBron break the Internet?

Joined Twitter as @KingJames yesterday… 279,400 followers when I started this post now 280,748…

Where is LeBron?

Want to know where Lebron (or at least the person tweeting for him) is?

Take the Location details from his Twitter account and put the numbers into Google Maps.

Hint: Turn off Location update when tweeting from UberTwitter.

Perhaps LeBron needs some training from Sports Geek?

View Larger Map

LeBron Online Launch?

Why not launch a personal site & take control of your Facebook Fan page while you have the world’s attention?

What is it doing? Collecting email addresses, smart strategy why not hit up the sports world email boxes with new offers from King James?

But the most staggering is the traffic hitting up his new website from that one tweet via Bit.ly.

Still not convinced about social media being an effective platform for sports & athletes?  Why not?

Where will LeBron end up?

Happy to have LeBron as a Sports Geek ambassador

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to better leverage your sports properties via social media

Cristiano Ronaldo has used his social media profiles to make a big announcement, not going through traditional media press release.

However, it was a little cryptic from his Twitter account @Cristiano. Which leads to a longer post which received 199,185 views.

But his Facebook fan page was more clear.

I’m sure this will be where sports news and athlete news specifically is headed as athlete’s take control of their message via social media rather than traditional media.

What do you think?  Is this change good for sports fans? How will sports media react to this change?