Just seven weeks after making "controversial changes to the social media policy that governs its 32 teams, the NFL is changing the policy again," according to Daniel Roberts of YAHOO FINANCE. NFL Exec VP/Media Brian Rolapp and Senior VP/Media Sales, Strategy & Development Hans Schroeder on Friday sent a memo to all teams "detailing the changes, which take effect immediately." The changes are "extensive and explicitly apply to platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Periscope, and YouTube." The changes also "include a 'test agreement' between the NFL and Giphy, the free GIF server, which will last" until June. The memo said the deal makes Giphy the "source of high quality and authentic NFL GIFs of ancillary game and historical/iconic content." The NFL has also "raised its cap on how many videos each team can post on a game day, from 8 to 16 videos per platform" (FINANCE.YAHOO.com, 12/2). ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert noted the previous in-game video social media restrictions were "angering many teams." Now teams may "publish any 'in-progress video' available via the NFL's internal distribution system to team websites." Additionally, they can "conduct one pregame live stream via Periscope or Facebook Live per game" and "use postgame content -- such as locker room celebrations -- immediately, rather than observe a 60-minute moratorium." Teams also can now post "five snaps of live in-game action to Snapchat per game, after the practice previously was not allowed." The "most valuable change allows for teams to post unlimited GIFs of highlights, which don't count against individual team video quotas" (ESPN.com, 12/2). MCCLATCHY NEWS' Greg Hadley wrote, "Could the NFL actually be becoming -- gasp -- fun?" (MCCLATCHY NEWS, 12/4).
