Social media

PPS channels

PPS has its own Facebook page, Instagram account, and YouTube and LinkedIn accounts. These and our website are mainly updated by the PPS marketing department.

Team channels

You can find the teams' own social media channels on the teams' own pages.

Staff and officials on social media

If a PPS official uses social media in a way that involves interacting with the club's children and young people, that adult is clearly in the role of an adult/professional on social media. It must then be remembered that children and young people also see conversations between adults on social media.

This means that conversations and other activity on social media must be just as appropriate as, for example, on the touchline at training sessions or matches. In online conversations, you must act just as maturely/professionally as in face-to-face conversations and follow the club's ground rules for adults.

Nuances that work in spoken communication generally do not work in writing. A message meant to be funny comes across through facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice. Online, it is harder to convey these to the recipient. The adult therefore has a great responsibility to make sure that the young person does not misinterpret the message.

In all conversations, we follow PPS's values.

Guidelines for officials online

• Make sure your online activity is in line with PPS's principles and values.
• Step in if you see behaviour that breaks the ground rules, e.g. bad language, bullying or anything else suspicious.
• If you are unsure about something, don't post it. Ask another adult for their opinion.
• Adult matters are for adults and should not be discussed where children and young people can see or hear.
• Don't leave anything online that you would not want to come across in the future − the internet has a long memory! Anything posted on social media can end up being made widely public.
• Consider how your activity on social media affects your credibility in your role as an official and how people see your ability to carry out your duties impartially.

PPS recommends that officials think carefully about whether to accept young people from their team as friends on Facebook or other services. It is often simpler and easier to keep your “work role” and your free-time role separate, as many teachers do with their pupils, for example.

If, for example, a coach sends a player a Facebook friend request, the player may find it hard to say no even if they would like to. The coach–player relationship can be challenging on social media. Through Facebook, coaches and players may learn things about each other that they would not otherwise want to share.

It is worth remembering that readers may not be able to tell whether a post reflects the official's own view or PPS's position.

Team communications

We recommend that every team communicates primarily through myClub or the team's official WhatsApp group, for example, rather than through social media. It is likely that not all children's parents will want to start using social media services. In that case, they would be at a disadvantage when it comes to receiving information.

If a team has its own social media channel, permission to use published photos is given in the privacy section of the myClub account. Please let the team manager know if you do not want your child to appear on the team's social media channels.

We also recommend that officials of junior teams keep an eye on how the players communicate, for example in the team's WhatsApp group or similar channels, and, if necessary, remind the players about good team spirit in communication outside training too.