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"Yesterday, we reported on the Southeastern Conference\u2019s (SEC) ban of social media at sporting events.  The policy, which mandated that fans not \u201Cdisseminate \u2026 any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event,\u201D drew sharp criticism from our commenters and around the blogosphere.  \nIt appears that the SEC has come around, at least somewhat, and issued revisions to their guidelines for fans.  While video will still be off-limits, it looks like tweets, Facebook status updates, and even pictures will be acceptable, so long as they are for non-commercial use.The new policy reads:\n\n\u201CNo Bearer may produce or disseminate in any form a \u201Creal-time\u201D description or transmission of the Event (i) for commercial or business use, or (ii) in any manner that constitutes, or is intended to provide or is promoted or marketed as, a substitute for radio, television or video coverage of such Event. Personal messages and updates of scores or other brief descriptions of the competition throughout the Event are acceptable. If the SEC deems that a Bearer is producing a commercial or real-time description of the Event, the SEC reserves the right to pursue all available remedies against the Bearer.\nAbsent the prior written permission of the Southeastern Conference, game action videos of the Event may not be taken by Bearer. Photos of the Event may be taken by Bearer and distributed solely for personal use (and such photographs shall not be licensed, used, or sold commercially, or used for any commercial or business purpose).\u201D\n\nIn other words, the SEC is intent on protecting the broadcasting rights of CBS, but casual, not-for-profit social media use by fans will be permitted. This is also what SEC Associate Commissioner of Media Relations Charles Bloom told The Buzz Manager Blog today \u2013 for the most part, it\u2019s all about video.\nIs that the right stance?  As I said in my previous post and again today on CNN Live (embedded below), it\u2019s hard to see today\u2019s camera phones competing with the quality and scale of broadcast coverage. That said, the SEC has a point in wanting to protect what's currently an enormous source of revenue.  But so long as complimentary forms of social media \u2013 like Twitter, Facebook, and photo services \u2013 are allowed, at least the conference is moving in the right direction for both the fans and itself.\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/08/18/sec-social-media-policy/>