Newmarket Baseball Social Media Policy

 

Newmarket Baseball understands that social media has become a prominent platform for the communication and posting of content on the Internet. With a significant amount of ambiguity surrounding the use of social media, The Newmarket Baseball Executive Member Committee has created this policy to provide boundaries and standards for its members’ social media use. The following will apply to all social media accounts created by teams, coaches, instructors and NBA members positing info pertaining to the NBA and its activities.

 

2. Definitions: 

The following terms have these meanings in this Policy:

• “Social media”- Content created and distributed primarily using the internet and mobile based tools designed for sharing and discussing information. Using such tools as, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and blogs.  

• “Newmarket Baseball Association Branded Social Media”- Official social media engagement by the Newmarket Baseball Association including the NBA’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, Instagram account, YouTube channel, or other social media platforms; both those that exist currently and those that will be created by The NBA in the future.  

• “Members”- Members include, but are not limited to, staff, committee members, directors, athletes, coaches, officials, associates and volunteers.  

 

3. Policy:  

Newmarket Baseball encourages the use of social media by its members and staff to enhance effective communication, building the Newmarket Baseball brand and engage the community’s interest in a positive method that reflects the values and goals of the association. All members shall abide by the Newmarket Baseball Code of Conduct policy and all other related policies regarding acceptable behaviour and practices when using social media. 

Newmarket Baseball reserves the right to post information/pictures of its athletes and competitions for the purpose of building the brand.  

This Policy applies to all members, volunteers and staff.

4. General Social Media Responsibilities for all Members and Staff: 

All members and staff of the Newmarket Baseball Association shall:  

• Not use social media for the purpose of fraud or any other activity that contravenes the laws of Canada or any Newmarket Baseball Policies. 

• Not impersonate any other person or misrepresent their identity, role, or position with Newmarket Baseball.

• Inform the Executive Member Committee of any accounts created for the purpose of posting photos, information or activities of Newmarket Teams and its members by emailing admin@newmarketbaseball.com with the account name/handle and hashtags.

• Not upload, post, email or otherwise transmit: 

 

1. Any content that is offensive, obscene, unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, hateful, invasive of another member’s privacy or otherwise objectionable.

2. Any material that infringes on the patent, trademark, trade secrets, copyright or other proprietary right of any other party.  

3. Any material that is considered confidential information of Newmarket Baseball or intellectual property or related material. 

4. Not use any social media platforms that constitute online cyber bullying. 

 

• Refrain from discussing matters related to Newmarket Baseball League news, announcements and operations on Members’ personal social media accounts. Instead, matters related to Newmarket Baseball, or its news/operations shall be handled through official communication channels (i.e., email) or Newmarket Baseball branded social media. Re-tweeting and or sharing of posts from Newmarket Baseball official platforms is acceptable provided any added comments to the posts are within the guidelines of this policy that relates to approved behavior. 
   

In all cases, if you are in doubt of how to use or respond to social media correspondence, contact registrar@newmarketbaseball.com or admin@newmarketbaseball.com for assistance.

5. Guidelines for Athletes, Coaches and Teams:  

This policy provides athletes, coaches and clubs with guidelines for social media use. Athletes, coaches and clubs are strongly encouraged to develop their own social media strategy, ensuring their use of social media is acceptable pursuant to the Newmarket Baseball Code of Conduct policy.
 

5A. Guidelines for Athletes:  

The following guidelines should be considered by athletes in forming their strategy for social media use: 

• Set your privacy settings to restrict who can search you and what private information other people have access to. 

• Coaches, teammates, officials and/or opposing competitors may add you to a social media application. You are not required to follow anyone or be friends with anyone on any social media application.  

• If you feel harassed by someone on any social medium, report it to your coach, parents, or to Newmarket Baseball.  

• Do not feel pressured to join a fan page on any social media application. 

• Content posted on your social media platforms, relative to your privacy settings, is considered public. In most cases, you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy for any material that you post or share. 

• Do not post pictures/info of, or alluding to, participation in any illegal activity. 

• Model appropriate behavior in social media befitting your status as: a) an athlete, and b) a member of your affiliate league and of Newmarket Baseball.  

• As a member of Newmarket Baseball, you have agreed to adhere to the Code of Conduct policy and must follow that agreement when posting material and/or interacting with others on various social media platforms. 

• Be aware that any of your social media posts may be monitored by Newmarket Baseball, your coach or by the YSBA and OBA and content or behavior demonstrated on social media may be subject to sanction under the Disciplinary Committee. 

• It is strongly recommended that you follow the Newmarket Baseball Social Media Platforms so that you can i. be informed on NBA news and events, ii. Contribute to the enhancing of the branding of the NBA and iii. Have a secondary platform of accounts that can post positive news, accomplishments of baseball events, plays, stories that would be relevant to the enhancement of the NBA brand (i.e. your team wins a tournament – send in pics and a write up so NBA can post for you)

5B. Guidelines for Coaches and Teams: (Applies to Elite, Rep, Select and House League)

The following guidelines should be considered by coaches in forming their strategy for social media use: 

• Always use social media in a professional and positive manner. 

• All coaches must provide Newmarket Baseball their account name, handle or hashtag info of the social media platform they use at the time of the account creation. The NBA will have the right to follow and monitor the account. This applies to both Elite/Rep/Select and House League teams. 

• The account info must be renewed and submitted to the NBA each year if reused.

• Ensure your social media behavior is compliant with the Newmarket Baseball Code of Conduct policy. 

• Most experts in risk management recommend that coaches do not interact with minor athletes on social media. If you do, make sure to keep all communications public. 

• Seek permission from athletes and parent(s)/guardian(s) if the athlete is under the age of majority before communicating on social media.  Usually, can be done at team meeting.

• Do not initiate contact on social media from your personal account. 

• Involve your athletes in creating your team’s communication policy for social media use. Assigning a point person to funnel all info to the coach is a good practice. 

• Coaches are encouraged to use appropriate current privacy settings to control access to their personal social media platforms.  

• Be wary of creating communication gaps if you use multiple social media platforms to communicate with your members. Try to use one primary platform when disseminating important coaching information.  

• Team selection decisions are not to be made over social media, rather use a more official communication form, like email or phone call. 

• It is encouraged that teams follow other teams in their association, affiliate to further reinforce their team accomplishments, the Newmarket Baseball brand as well as positive recognition of other teams’ successes and promote good sportsmanship.  

• Fundraising activities that are approved for teams by the Executive Committee under the NBA bylaws can be promoted on social media within the guidelines and direction of the EMC. Funding raised must be communicated to the EMC and accounted for in a team budget. Fraud in any form will not be tolerated.

In addition to ensuring that every team member is provided the social media Policy, including the parents of athletes, the following guidelines should be considered by clubs in forming their strategy for social media use: 

• Coaches should monitor social media usage by its athletes and coaches and have a general understanding of their online presence and personal branding. Coaches and athletes need to be aware that behavior on social media is subject to the Newmarket Baseball Code of Conduct policy and other related policies and laws. 

• Complaints and concerns about an athlete’s or coach’s conduct or behavior on social media can be addressed under Newmarket Baseball Association Disciplinary Committee and Harassment policy. NBA will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour on social media that is connected in any way to the NBA Association and its branding.

 

6. Non – Compliance:  

 

Failure to adhere to this policy may lead to disciplinary action in accordance with related Newmarket Baseball policies and action taken can result in removal of a coach, player, parent, member from any further participation in NBA activities as well as possible legal action. 

 

Policies related to proper behavior, acceptable use of information and disciplinary action can be found on the Newmarket Baseball website under NBA policies:

 

• Code of Conduct

• Player Code of Conduct

• Parent Code of Conduct

• Umpire Code of Conduct

• Dress Code Policy

• Rep/Select Manager Policy

• Release Policy

• Privacy Policy

• Harassment and Abuse Policy

• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

• Refund Policy

• NBA rain and lightning policy/ health and safety

 

7. This policy realizes that social media platforms and trends can be fluid and are ever changing, thus this policy will be regularly review and adapted as required by the Executive Member Committee to ensure that all content is relevant and current. 

 

Examples of this would be to include important information on new practices or strategies and the inclusion of rules pertaining to Social Media Platforms that have not been ratified.