The Pros Limit SNW

Or, as the traditional media screamed today, "NBA BANS TWITTER."

No, the NBA put in some reasonable limits on the usage of social media, and they are just following along the guidelines established by the NFL.

The guidelines first; media hysteria second. ESPN's coverage today.

The NBA said no team member or individual within the organization directly involved in the team's participation in the contest can utilize SNW in a window of 45 minutes prior to tip through the conclusion of postgame media responsibilities. This is similar to the NFL's rules.

Contrary to GMA, this does not include Mark Cuban. Club personnel, including some on the bench, are not restricted. Coaches, players, trainers -- in other words, the people involved in the game who might need to concentrate more on the contest than on their tweets.

The blackout -- it doesn't seem right to call it a ban -- applies to all portable communications devices, including cell phones. David Stern knew what he was doing; Shaq can't call a personal assistant to relay a tweet.

The memorandum does not say if it applies to the team official SNW feeds -- or to The_Real_Stern. More to come there.

Let us transition from the distraction part of this (remember, several teams like the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks had made similar rulings earlier in the week) blackout to the media hype surrounding it.

Why is it a "ban", and why the focus on one brand name, "twitter"? Humble opinion -- cause large parts of the legacy media in equal parts misunderstand and despise Twitter.

The anti-Christ of media industry travail are those darn internets and interwebs. We may all like the ability of everyone to be equally connected to everyone else to go away, for Shaq to not have a follower base as large as one of the top five national newspapers in the United States. For Shaq to be reportedly offered as much as $30K for a single product Tweet.

With the leagues getting involved -- remember, NFL was in on this first -- and making the blackout last until after post event media conferences, it begins to look more like an embargo than a ban.

Nothing is going to prevent Shaq from giving his opinion of the game direct to his followers; it will simply delay it. Its the American version of Lance Armstrong giving the thumbs to European cycling media by sending out his injuries and comments to his list first. Except when Lance got the personal backlash of less coverage, the leagues are stepping in to prevent that by providing a protected window for the media.

Will this mean that Cleveland Plain-Dealer's reporter can message out a quote from Shaq in the locker room or media postgame event, but Shaq can't? Stay tuned for that battle.

The NFL's ban goes into this by locking down "any third parties representing" players, coaches or game ops personnel.

Dewayne Wade, a man with his own six-figure following, puts it all in perspective:

"When you come to work, you come to work. You can tweet before, you can tweet after. "

Well said.