Social media policies
March 2, 2009 in Twitter
Image via CrunchBase #
Taking a short break from working on the dissertation, here’s one thing I gleaned from the conversation at the Associated Collegiate Press convention in San Diego: social media needs some guidance. #
I’m not talking about guidance for the wider social media community. I don’t care who you’re following, or what you tweet or don’t tweet. #
I’m talking about social media guidelines for college media organizations. We spent way too much time in S.D. talking about how to use Twitter – as a journalistic tool, marketing tool, and educational space – and it’s clear that the guidance is still being worked out. #
The concern for most people was this: “how do we ensure quality on our Twitter account?” Since Twitter is an instant communication medium, it runs counter to traditional journalistic (print, especially) dogma that everything must be run through an editor, a second set of eyes. #
It’s part of your brand (@thepittnews on Twitter is representing the Pitt News on that network, for instance), and you don’t want someone destroying your brand with some ill-advised tweets. #
Also, I had the idea that individual Twitter accounts should be placed next to the bylines of individual journalists (like @schuster1600 for David Schuster at MSNBC), but the question came up: What if they use the account for personal communications that should not be affiliated with the news org.? That’s a good question. #
My initial response is to only allow social media networks affiliated with the news brand to be used by “trusted” users. The immediacy is the key to services like Twitter or CoverItLive or Mogulus. Remove the immediacy, you remove the value, IMHO. #
But for college media, that can be a particularly sticky situation. We need some guidelines. Some (ugh, I always dread saying it) policies. I’m looking out for good “professional” journalism policies for social media use, and I’ll keep you updated on those. In the meantime, if you have suggestions for what should be part of a “social media use policy” for college media outlets, drop it in the comments, or e-mail me at scmurley -at- gmail.com. #
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I'm in the middle of developing one for my internship. It can be much more complicated than it needs to be, but here's the outline I'm gleaning from:
http://www.wearemedia.org/Strategy+Track+Module+2
Bryan –
Thought the convention was great…learned some really valuable tools for my paper, the poly post and for myself as a journalist. While I was familar with many of the things you introduced in your new media shortcourse, I still took a lot away and gathered some excellent ideas.
Be sure to check what I wrote about it in my column Dan In Real Life:
http://www.thepolypost.com/media/storage/paper1…
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A few of our editors spoke with Meg Martin, the online editor at the Roanoke Times, last week about this very issue.First, she suggested deciding as an organization whether you'd like your paper's Twitter to be something that speaks to an audience or joins a conversation (via @ replies and commentary, mostly). The latter option has more wiggle room and possibilities for diminishing the brand, I'd say.Then, she said that it's important for the editors in charge to set guidelines for posting: whether you want it to be just an RSS-type feed, a place for breaking news, sports updates, including commentary or even interacting with the online community. Also who you'll follow and who you'll allow to post what.It's sort of like the same things that blogs face with branding and guidelines, I guess. A lot of our editors have personal Twitter accounts, but only the editorial board and section editors have access to ThePittNews twitter, and we haven't yet run into any trouble straying from breaking news and sending out headlines. We shall see, though, as readership, conversation and our online presence evolve.
A few of our editors spoke with Meg Martin, the online editor at the Roanoke Times, last week about this very issue.
First, she suggested deciding as an organization whether you'd like your paper's Twitter to be something that speaks to an audience or joins a conversation (via @ replies and commentary, mostly). The latter option has more wiggle room and possibilities for diminishing the brand, I'd say.
Then, she said that it's important for the editors in charge to set guidelines for posting: whether you want it to be just an RSS-type feed, a place for breaking news, sports updates, including commentary or even interacting with the online community. Also who you'll follow and who you'll allow to post what.
It's sort of like the same things that blogs face with branding and guidelines, I guess. A lot of our editors have personal Twitter accounts, but only the editorial board and section editors have access to ThePittNews twitter, and we haven't yet run into any trouble straying from breaking news and sending out headlines. We shall see, though, as readership, conversation and our online presence evolve.
A few of our editors spoke with Meg Martin, the online editor at the Roanoke Times, last week about this very issue.
First, she suggested deciding as an organization whether you'd like your paper's Twitter to be something that speaks to an audience or joins a conversation (via @ replies and commentary, mostly). The latter option has more wiggle room and possibilities for diminishing the brand, I'd say.
Then, she said that it's important for the editors in charge to set guidelines for posting: whether you want it to be just an RSS-type feed, a place for breaking news, sports updates, including commentary or even interacting with the online community. Also who you'll follow and who you'll allow to post what.
It's sort of like the same things that blogs face with branding and guidelines, I guess. A lot of our editors have personal Twitter accounts, but only the editorial board and section editors have access to ThePittNews twitter, and we haven't yet run into any trouble straying from breaking news and sending out headlines. We shall see, though, as readership, conversation and our online presence evolve.
A few of our editors spoke with Meg Martin, the online editor at the Roanoke Times, last week about this very issue.
First, she suggested deciding as an organization whether you'd like your paper's Twitter to be something that speaks to an audience or joins a conversation (via @ replies and commentary, mostly). The latter option has more wiggle room and possibilities for diminishing the brand, I'd say.
Then, she said that it's important for the editors in charge to set guidelines for posting: whether you want it to be just an RSS-type feed, a place for breaking news, sports updates, including commentary or even interacting with the online community. Also who you'll follow and who you'll allow to post what.
It's sort of like the same things that blogs face with branding and guidelines, I guess. A lot of our editors have personal Twitter accounts, but only the editorial board and section editors have access to ThePittNews twitter, and we haven't yet run into any trouble straying from breaking news and sending out headlines. We shall see, though, as readership, conversation and our online presence evolve.