The National Football League, despite encouraging players to connect with fans with new media tools such as Twitter, has updated it’s social media policy to largely outlaw usage of such tools by players, coaches, and media during games.  The policy includes other social media tools, such as Facebook, and extends for 90 minutes before the game, and until post game interviews are done.

The new policy also includes representatives of players–so players like Chris Cooley, who regularly blogs throughout the year, including during the season and on game days, might be in hot water if his brother (who manages his site, and regularly posts there as well) are posting on game days.

The policy change comes despite the NFL offices having readily adopted Twitter, with several people at NFL headquarters in New York regularly using the service, and commissioner Roger Goodell having tweeted during last spring’s draft.

In fact, while several teams have banned and fined players for using the service (mainly for doing so during team meetings), several other teams have encouraged the use of tools like Twitter, including the New York Jets, who carry 11 players on the roster currently confirmed to regularly Tweet.

The new policy set by the NFL is likely an effort to level the playing field to a degree–ensuring that there are no distractions for some teams, while not for others–and also likely to prevent last second information from leaking to impact game plans and/or the lines in Vegas.  Not that the NFL condones betting <cough>required injury statuses<cough>.

While some regular Tweeters, such as Chad Ochocinco (@OgoChoCinco), probably bemoan the fact that the NFL is once again becoming the No Fun League, we wonder if some players won’t be better off with the policy–and if some players will start to back away from such social tools, after the escapades of Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, who managed to cost himself a contract in the Canadian Football League after livestreaming video of himself forgetting which league he was going to be playing in and announcing that as soon as an NFL team gave him a contract offer he would leave.  Jones had also announced the appearance on his Twitter account (@RealPacmanJones), where he has 1,800 followers.

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