Southeastern Conference, meet Iran
Marshall Roy — August 25, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
The SEC has enacted a pretty strict new policy: no Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, or otherwise—not at a live game, anyway. According to NBC, the restriction “is meant to keep eyeballs on the TV networks…. ESPN and CBS are paying the SEC $3 billion for the broadcast rights to the conference’s games over the next 15 years.”
Banning social media in order to preserve a monopoly on the dissemination of information? Hmm, sounds familiar. The SEC is in pretty interesting ideological company on this one.
This is the same problem the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ran into a few years ago when it tried to give its PR director a nervous breakdown by suing regular college kids for millions of dollars. Hopefully the SEC and RIAA will both learn that it’s a bad idea to slap the hands that feed you. “By forbidding social media at games, they’re basically acknowledging that the source of their income—their fans—also represents a source of competition,” according to the NBC article.
But even that doesn’t seem right. How is this new rule enforceable in the least? And really, what threat could social media possibly pose? Is there anybody who’ll forgo watching a game on TV because his buddy up in the nosebleeds paints such a vibrant picture in 140 characters or less? Puh-leeze.
Nobody can stop the networking potential of social media from evolving and—cross your fingers—enriching our lives and businesses. The key is to keep up with the innovation rather than try to beat it back. I’m reminded of my favorite African proverb: An elephant may shake the ground, but it can never kill all the ants. Think about it, SEC.
Some members of the music industry are finally realizing how to innovate and create value in the face of their previously bewailed “doomsday” scenario. With studio tracks available for free illegal downloading relatively easily, a new value is placed on the comparatively rare experience of the live concert.
Remember, SEC—when thousands of customers are talking about you, it’s a good thing. The last thing you want to do is silence them.
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SEC senior management might as well wear a sign that says “I’m old and afraid of technology I don’t understand”
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Marshall, I’ve got tickets to the LSU-Florida game in October. Of course I’ll be rocking some Bonobos, and to prove it, I’m going to tweet from the game! Then I’m going to post a message on Facebook about how much fun I had tweeting from the game. Then I’m going to whip those Bonobos off and streak the field. They’ll all get you kicked out of the game; but only one will get you on the news! “The man” can’t hold me down!
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I’m pals with the RIAA’s communications director and, yup, he’s sure earned his keep over the past several years. But I don’t think their strategy has changed at all — they’re still suing music fans. I can’t see how that helps.
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