The University of North Carolina seems to be cracking down on social networking abuses in the wake of last week’s news that UNC’s football team was under investigation for “academic misconduct.” According to ESPN’s College Nation Basketball Blog, team captain Marvin “Austin, who has been questioned by the NCAA about improper contact with agents, posted around 2,400 (Twitter) messages, including ones of him buying designer sunglasses and running up a $143 bill at Cheesecake Factory.” Others have been engaged in questionable conduct as well.

UNC has announced an update to the social networking policies (which it says are not related to any one thing) in its Student-Athlete Handbook, according to a column today by Tim Gardner on USA TODAY’s “Campus Rivalry” site. Gardner goes on to quote a story in The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer in which reporter Robbi Pickeral reports “each team must identify at least one coach or administrator who is responsible for having access to and regularly monitor the content of team members’ social networking sites and postings.”

Pickeral writes that the updated handbook now requires if an “athlete’s online content violates the law or NCAA, University or athletic department policies, sanctions could range from removal of the posting to dismissal from the team.”

We are seeing harsher and harsher social networking policies across all industries and organizations. While it’s understandable that athletic officials might want to control unauthorized and damaging communications, much of what came out in the UNC case seems to be truthful but embarrassing. One could argue that the “solution” is for people not to behave immorally, illegally or in violation of university or NCAA rules in the first place, rather than try to stop athletes from tweeting about their indiscretions.

But when do social media bans or excessive controls (whatever those are) affect 1st Amendment freedoms? The NHL, NFL and NBA have all instituted Twitter bans at times when the use of sites like Twitter and Facebook would affect or interfere with game play. That seems entirely reasonable. Professional sports teams are businesses. “Regular businesses” generally have in their “Standards of Business Conduct” bans against representing the company in a bad light, divulging confidential information, and failing to use company time for the purpose for which the employee was hired. Professional athletes could potentially do all of these things with the misuse of Twitter.

But are there rules against acting like an idiot? Expressing one’s opinion on a political party or candidate? Posting videos of cats doing silly things? Tweeting “Hi, mom!”? These things would seem to be protected by the First Amendment and could hardly be seen as damaging to the organization. Will the latest UNC ban keep athletes off of Facebook and Twitter altogether? Is that unfair or unreasonable?

A high school student contacted me asking for career advice. She’s doing PR for her high school football team, and she wants to start now finding and creating career opportunities. If you’re early in your PR career, maybe the advice I gave her will help you:

“I was encouraged to hear you’re doing PR for the football team. My first bit of advice would have been to see if there are any opportunities to do public relations/public information at school, or for the district. Keep doing an awesome job in this role. You’ll be able to use it on your resume, and employers look for continuity, even in volunteer/unpaid positions.

You should look into the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) if you haven’t already. The society’s job board is open to members and non-members alike, and will give you an idea of the kinds of jobs companies and organizations are recruiting for. PRSA membership is too expensive if you’re not a working professional, but the organization puts on some awesome conferences and panel discussions.

Don’t confine your networking to in-person industry get-togethers. You’ll be spending time with the same people. Twitter and LinkedIn are great resources. Once you have a network of PR friends on Twitter, you’ll see announcements for tweetups, in-person get-togethers. (Most are in bars, unfortunately. Here in Santa Cruz we sometimes do them in parks or in other places where people of any age can attend.)

Never listen to advice that will keep you from accomplishing your dreams. I once saw a job posted on the internal web site at the company where I worked. My current boss told me I wasn’t ready for that job, and should hold off applying. I applied any way, got the job, and held it for almost five years.

Separate your career and personal life. Recruiters absolutely look at Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn when identifying and evaluating candidates. Surveys reveal they do not like sex and drug references, heavy drinking, obscenity, slang and even misspelling and emoticons (smiley faces). I’m not suggesting you instantly age 20 years, but be professional and remember, right or wrong, you are being watched online.

To ‘cover’ sports, you don’t need anyone’s permission. One way to develop your writing skills and stay in touch with sports would be to start a blog. It’s not PR exactly, but it gets you in the game.

Find additional volunteer opportunities, or internships, in allied fields. Search first in your primary field of interest. In your case, maybe there are other sports teams in your area that could use someone like you who could step in and help with little or no training. You’re obviously proficient with social media. Maybe there is a team in your area that needs help getting into the social media world. Offer to build them a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Suggest yourself as a community manager.

You should also ‘cast a wide net’ when looking for your next position. Look at college sports and professional sports. Look at women’s sports. (Not putting down women’s sports, just suggesting you look at every category.) Look at Monster and PRSA for jobs, as well as International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Craig’s List often has internships and entry-level PR jobs. I’m not sure why, but Craig’s List is a magnet for cheap and unscrupulous employers, so be careful and do some research on companies that are not familiar to you.

Once you’ve been in an internship for a while, and you’ve learned a little about the organization you’ve been working for, you might be able to ask that they make you a regular (paid) employee.

Another way to learn about the field and grow your network is through informational interviews (like the one you did with me). You should feel free to contact anyone in the industry and ask for 30 minutes on the phone or via Skype. The worst anyone can do is say no, and you’ll meet some interesting people and learn all kinds of things.

This is hardly a complete guide to getting started in PR, but I do hope I’ve offered something of use. If you know of useful resources, or have additional advice for young PR folks, please leave a comment.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog and you’re very observant, you may have noticed the Social Media Informer badge on my right sidebar. I was asked to participate in this week’s launch of this new site which looks to have a great strategy for aggregating and distributing social media content. As of the launch of Social Media Informer, I find myself in the good company of Chris Brogan, Alex Blom, Kyle Lacy, Janet Fouts, Simon Mainwaring and many others.

Social Media Informer seems unique in several respects. I like that content is organized by topics and themes so visitors can read related items, and learn about blogs and bloggers who write about what interests them, but what’s more appealing is that Social Media Informer is designed to drive people who like my posts back to my blog. I’ve been involved with a number of aggregation sites and similar ventures in the past whose strategy is to capture and hold readers.

I’m looking forward to seeing how things go at Social Media Informer.