4 Tips from the sports medicine community

The ten top social media tips for sport and exercise medicine practitioners are as follows. 1. Always respect confidentiality. 2. Embrace social media use - it is an effective tool for knowledge dissemination, promoting best practice and networking with peers. 3. Think before you post - would you be happy re-reading your post in 1 week, month or years later? 4. Steer clear from trolls and puerile online arguments. Let the trolls stay in their caves. 5. Be cognisant of making a grave faux pas such as disparaging opinions on referees, tactics, releasing team and/or personal information, especially in the professional sports world. 6. When sharing images of players and colleagues, ensure you seek their informed consent prior to circulating them in the public domain. 7. Stay up to date and aware of new and emerging platforms that your player may be using (e.g. snapchat). 8. Liaise with the experts to identify methods to utilise social media for wider public and to minimise risks of misinterpretation/misrepresentation. 9. Know your relevant profession’s code of ethics/conduct, and/or advocate for inclusion of social media guidance. 10. If you are working within a squad, consider acting as a referee point to help influence and generate good social media etiquette and practice.