If you are going to  blog or use Facebook;  Twitter;  Tumblr, or  hang out on message boards  –  or text and leave messages  –   or respond to emails;   –  you must  consider doing  the following:

Do it yourself;  you can’t outsource it;  someone else can’t write this stuff for you!

Be authentic;  and genuine;  and honest;  the words you type will be in the algorithm forever more;

Be consistent  –  do it every day;

Don’t curse  –  don’t be profane;   trying to being funny can be  dangerous;  most people won’t “get” the joke;  I am guilty here;

Be transparent –  talk about the good and the bad;

Don’t NOT communicate when things are bad for you and  then reemerge when things are  going good;

Use Tweetdeck;  I blog daily  and my  posts get turned into Facebook news feeds and Tweets;  I can serve many audiences in that way;

Don’t communicate late at night –  or out of emotional turmoil — or after a party;  alcohol and social media don’t mix well!;

Don’t hope that the league offices arent reading your stuff;  they are;  employers  and sponsors are also looking at your Facebook profiles;  be careful with the pictures that you post;  and share;

Don’t believe that only your friends are listening in ;  as your fans and the media are the main consumers of your pixels;  and when they re-tweet;  it goes mainstream; gulp;

Be wary of friends with cell fone cameras and video recording;

Don’t create a web site and leave it un-updated; it must be dynamic and curated;   always;

Write as if your mom or dad were listening in; or the authorities/media  –  they probably are;

Be nice –  but don’t be afraid to respond to bad stuff out there — it is ok to counter punch ;  probably best NOT to initiate;

Don’t assume that fans understand ‘netiquette;  some fans  will email you and then socialize your responses to the media to show off or try to create trouble  ;  I no longer respond to some  emails  from troublemakers;  I just hit ” delete”;  you should as well; this was a big lesson for me to learn;

Texts live forever;  be careful what you type;

Voice mails can be digitized and transmitted;  be careful about the messages you leave –  imagine if you were in front of a microphone with reporters in front of you; would you say that?;

When in doubt — don’t hit send. A lesson I have had to learn.

Some days you eat the bear — some days the bear eats you;  you will have a few bad experiences online –  don’t let the bad actors  get you down;  always remember the community is huge –  90 percent of the people are so very nice;  9 percent  have some negativity about them but are inherently good;  ,and one percent are criminally motivated   or truly  emotionally stunted ;  don’t let the one percent ruin it for the 99 percent;

If you will allow comments and interactivity on your personal media  — censor and read all comments;   some posters use aliases; and will write the  meanest things;  key board courage is something to behold; ” consider the source” of all mean spirited messaging; delete the worst of the worst posts from the emotionally  stunted;  blanche and show outrage when someone uses racist  or  pornographic responses;  you wont believe what is in the mind or the keyboards of that one percent; when confronted  –  they usually just squirm away anyway ; be vigilant. Be tough with the one percent. They are cowards anyway.

Don’t think of the community you serve as ” users”;  or “customers”;  write to them like they are your friends;

Be consistent;  be warts and all;  keep at it.

This is like oxygen –  better get used to it. Don’t be afraid.   Only commit if you are willing to commit to it.

Read this article on the jock-o-sphere here. Thank you.