Networks Pose Pitfalls, Potential for Journalism

Social Network Sites Now Redefining Communications in News Business

Aug 3, 2009 John Seidenberg

Use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook is bringing more immediacy and interaction to reporting. But this tool requires new discretion on journalists' part.

The growing use of social networking sites in the news business reflects the direction in which the industry is headed for providing information. But in trying to judge what online news consumers want, reporters using such sites are being cautioned to exercise care in what they post.

Different journalists may have their own reasons for using Facebook and Twitter, with one possibility being an effort to make their name known in the search for a following. But little point remains now in complaining about social media harming journalism through seeking user-generated news or relying too heavily on unconfirmed early information, columnist Renay San Miguel wrote in the July 6, 2009 NewsTechWorld in “How to Build a New-Media/Old-School Journalism Hybrid.” “Social networks and user-generated media are already firmly entwined around the DNA of current newsgathering,” he said.

Writing for the Knight Digital Media Center on July 28, 2009, in “Social media: Baby steps for news organizations,” Michele McLellan, a consultant to news organizations, said: “Specific platforms of social media may come and go, but it’s hard to imagine the public will turn away from the underlying practices—and benefits—of being able to share widely and freely online.”

Examine What Information Social Sites Provide to Generate Interest and an Audience

She recommends that journalists not view social networking in terms of the advantages for them but instead concentrate on means of communication and information sharing. “Check out people who have a large number of followers on Twitter - How do they write and what do they offer that appeals to you?”

Desire and demand for more immediate content and the ability of journalists to tweet from a variety of locations can help explain the trend, noted Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi, in discussing Twitter in the June/July 2009 American Journalism Review.

Some reporters use social networking for customized news feeds or as a headline service to drive traffic to another location. Rick Dunham, Washington bureau chief for Hearst newspapers and the Houston Chronicle, manages “Texas on the Potomac,” a blog that covers Washington from a Texas news perspective. The blog also encourages people to go to Chron.com, the Chronicle’s Web site.

Different uses of Twitter and Facebook, and Other Social Networking Tools by Journalists

On Facebook, Dunham has created automatic feeds of the “Texas on the Potomac” content. Reporters with feeds on a Web site or Twitter can have them show up on Facebook, he told a July 28 National Press Club meeting on social media use. On Twitter, Dunham posts information his community of readers would want to know, including some news links although he tries to use Twitter for news. On Twitter he also highlights items on the Chronicle site.

In his reporting Dunham at times uses Facebook to request interviews, which he finds easier than e-mail. He makes the same kind of use of the LinkedIn site. Dunham gets updates on Facebook and Twitter from people for story ideas. “Particularly with a Web site, when you’re up 24 hours, the standard of what is an interesting item on the Web is different than one of six national stories the paper is going to run a day,” he told the Press Club meeting.

Because the Web is infinite, many interesting items don’t have to be a full blown story, he added. He gets ideas for professional use, if not always for reporting, and can develop sources or story leads and expand his contact list. Dunham has used Twitter for live blogging to add comments on news events that people are watching elsewhere. But because Twitter is one way and doesn’t allow for direct response, alternatively, Cover It Live as an interactive service can enable bloggers at an event to cover it as it happens and have live chat.

Inherent Risks in Inflammatory or Derogatory Comments Made on Social Media Sites

Privacy cannot necessarily be guaranteed on sites such as Facebook and Twitter and news organizations have begun issuing guidelines on social media networking for their employees. In a June 18, 2009 memo from Associated Press editors, staff were advised “to bear in mind how their actions might reflect on the AP.”

Among the stipulations in the memo, employees were told to identify their professional affiliation if using the networks for work, avoid expressing personal political views or disclosing information on AP’s “internal operations,” and to realize that any personal information posted—even if intended only for friends—could be seen by a wider audience. AP also prohibited the inclusion of unconfirmed information on Twitter that it has not yet reported or published.

In a June 23, 2009 Editor and Publisher story, “New AP ‘Social Media’ Policy Draws Union Fire,” Joe Strupp reported: “Leaders of the News Media Guild, which represents 1,520 AP employees in the U.S., complained that one policy requiring Facebook users who are AP employees to delete material posted – by others – that violates AP standards is over-reaching.”

Everything written on Facebook, other than the in box message, is in the public domain, Dunham pointed out. “Anything that I write can reflect on me professionally, so I’m very careful I don’t put things that are politically charged,” he said at the Press Club. “Users of network sites are connected to anything they write. Social networking is not private.”

The copyright of the article Networks Pose Pitfalls, Potential for Journalism in Online Publishing is owned by John Seidenberg. Permission to republish Networks Pose Pitfalls, Potential for Journalism in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Facebook for Writers