Engineering Compliance: Social Media Unwrapped
#PREVENTING SOCIAL MEDIA VIOLATIONS
DIVISION III
DEFINITIONS COACHING STAFF Any coach (i.e. head, assistant, volunteer, and sports performance) and consultants affiliated or tied to a MIT varsity sports team.
STUDENT-ATHLETE (SA) Any student who is a member of a varsity sport at MIT.
PROSPECTIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE (PSA) Any student who has started classes in the 9th grade.
TEAM ACCOUNT Account representing the team run by coaches or student-athletes.
FAN ACCOUNT Account where student-athletes manage or submit content to.
AREAS OF RISK
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BEST PRACTICES COACHING STAFF Head coach should meet with his/her coaching staff and team to review all social media guidelines. Coaching staff should know of all team accounts that currently exist as well as any future accounts, including fan accounts where applicable. Coaching staff should consider having a member of the coaching staff run team accounts. If student-athletes are in charge of team accounts, it is recommended that the coaching staff approve of the content of the post before it is published. Always log out after each post on team accounts to prevent personal content from accidentally being posted on team accounts. Student-athletes can send coaches pictures and updates on non-athletically related fun activities. Coaching staff should seek out content for team accounts year-round.
GENERALLY (STUDENT-ATHLETES AND COACHING STAFF) Social media accounts brand and market the team as well as the student-athlete. Always think about your audience for social media accounts (recruits, family members, MIT faculty and staff, future employers, etc.).
Always think about how people will perceive your caption since a caption could turn a permissible photo into a violation. Feel free to post about anything that is positive and interesting about the team, MIT, etc. Promote and support other MIT teams and events happening on campus by tagging other teams and using MIT hashtags. Encourage others to follow your team social media accounts.
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Always respect your teammates’ and players’ privacy. Always use appropriate language.
CAUTION (STUDENT-ATHLETES AND COACHING STAFF) Do not post negative comments about your opponents. Do not share or post any medical information or other in-house matters (make sure to keep all of those matters internal). Do not be a scouting resource for your opponents. Do not include or allude to controlled substances. Do not publish a post unless you are completely sure that you are not violating any of the rules. Do not communicate with any PSA accounts and PSA team accounts. Do not post, share, like, favorite, repost, or comment on announcements regarding PSAs committing to another institution. Student-athletes should not create any team account without prior approval from the coaching staff. Even if an account (personal or team) is private, there is no expectation of privacy. Treat all communications as though it could be read by members of the public. If student-athletes engage in “takeovers” on other student accounts or institutional/organization accounts (e.g., @MITEngSuccess Twitter account, @MITStudents Instagram account), student-athletes must follow all social media rules listed in this brochure.
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AMATEURISM Student-athletes cannot promote, endorse or encourage others to use commercial products regardless of whether payment is being given or not, however student-athletes may express an opinion.
The post is impermissible since it encourages others to purchase and use a commercial product.
The post is permissible because it expresses an opinion.
The post does not reference any commercial brand or product, thus the post is permissible.
The post encourages others to purchase and use a commercial product, thus the post is impermissible. 5
 The post is permissible since it only expresses the athlete’s opinion and does not make any reference to any commercial brand or product.
 The post is impermissible since it encourages others to go to Dunkin Donuts and purchase its products. The post is made by a team account.
The post is impermissible because it uses a student-athlete to promote the purchase and use of a commercial product.
The Tweet is ONLY permissible if a Charitable Event Form is submitted to Compliance and approved. 6
AMATEURISM EXCEPTION If student-athletes are interested or involved in creating a business and/or product that may be sold commercially, waivers are available. Studentathletes must receive prior approval from Compliance and fill out the Self Employment/Start Up/Business Owner form via the ACS Student-Athlete Portal. Compliance will take the following into consideration: 1.
The student-athlete became involved in such activities for reasons independent of athletics ability;
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No references are made on social media (includes LinkedIn) to the student-athlete’s involvement in intercollegiate athletics; and
3. The student-athlete is paid the going rate and is not paid based upon the student-athlete’s athletic ability or reputation.
The Tweet is ONLY permissible if all of the conditions listed above are met. However, if it is discovered that the student-athlete has previously made any reference to involvement in any varsity sport (as seen below), the Tweet (as seen above) would be deemed impermissible. Please be advised that this legislation applies to LinkedIn as well.
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RECRUITMENT Coaching Staff Coaching staff cannot friend or follow a prospective studentathlete (PSA). Coaching staff cannot engage with PSAs on any public social media function (i.e. do not like, favorite, tag, comment, repost, retweet, or share anything they may do).
Coaching staff or team cannot publicly acknowledge or “like” the comment made on the post by PSAs. Private messaging PSAs is permissible at any time. Do not post ANY pictures (including Snapchats) of PSAs or publicize any PSA visits to campus. The coaching staff may publicly communicate with PSAs ONLY after May 1 and after PSAs have officially accepted admissions offer (as confirmed in FileMaker).
No soliciting admissions applications. Do not post camp/clinic or competition photos at any time, even if the PSAs are not being recruited.
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Student-Athlete Student-athlete may friend or follow a PSA as long as it is not at the discretion of the coaching staff. Student-athlete cannot engage with PSAs on any public social media function (i.e. do not like, favorite, tag, comment, repost, or share anything they post). Do not post ANY pictures (including Snapchats) of PSAs or publicize any PSA visits to campus.
The snap is impermissible, even if it disappears after 6 seconds, since the snap is shared with either all the student-athlete’s followers or certain people the snap is sent to. Student-athlete can only publicly communicate or announce a PSA’s commitment ONLY upon approval of the coaching staff. No soliciting admissions applications.
Do not post camp/clinic or competition photos at any time, even if the PSAs are not being recruited.
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PLAYING AND PRACTICE SEASON Posting pictures or references to student-athletes’ athletically related activities outside of the declared season is impermissible. This applies to team accounts (run by either coaching staff or student-athletes) as well as coach and Sport Performance social media accounts.
The post is impermissible since it makes a reference to student-athletes’ athletically related activities outside of the declared season.
Team account is run by a member of the coaching staff.
The post is permissible since it is not related to nor does it reference any student-athlete athletically related activity outside the declared season.
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Team account is run by a student-athlete.
The post is impermissible because the post references athletically related activities outside of the declared season.
PLAYING AND PRACTICE SEASON EXCEPTION Student-athletes may post pictures or references to athletically related activities outside of the declared season ONLY on their personal accounts as long as it is not at the direction of the coach. Keep in mind that the coach cannot like, favorite, tag, comment, repost, share, or retweet ANY post from ANY account outside the declared playing and practice season relating to or referencing athletically related activities.
The tweet is permissible as long as it is made on a studentathlete’s personal account and not made at the direction of the coach. 11
QUESTIONS Please contact Compliance at eligibility@mit.edu.