social media
Of course both times it was my own fault – but asking around, I wasn’t alone in these social networking mishaps. Katy Lanchester, a features writer, blushes to recall the time her professionalism was called into question because of flippant comments to a friend on Twitter. “A jokey exchange between me and someone else about a third party – a writer – were brought to the attention of the person concerned,” she says. “I had said some silly things of a kind of sexual nature – I had suggested he was the type of man who would be in the midst of an affair despite his wholesome exterior. I didn’t know him, and my comments to my friend, who made similar assertions, were never intended to reach a wider audience.”
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he acknowledges now that it was naïve to expect privacy on an open forum, and continues: “A week or so after this happened, I got a call from an organisation I was working with, telling me they were having to reconsider my position on a particular project because of the comment I had made. I didn’t know what they were on about at first – I had forgotten all about it. They said the person we had been talking about had questioned my involvement in the project – which he happened to be part of – because of the exchange of Tweets he had seen. I was gutted and very embarrassed. I rang the man and apologised – profusely.” She warns: “It was a stark wake-up call to me and I am much more wary now of what I tweet and the wider implications, and of course, the fact that nothing is just between the two tweeters.” So should we as journalists be more wary of social networks than people in any other trade? Joanna Halton, social media consultant for Gabba, says not. “There are always ‘no-go’ areas and it’s vital to filter what you say, just as you would on live
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Consider having separate accounts; one for personal use and one for workrelated activity
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TV or radio,” she says. “That said, the benefits of having your finger on the pulse of real-time news, and gaining instant access to people who could make or break your story, far outweigh the risks.” Lance Concannon, social media expert at Text 100, agrees: “For journalists there’s an additional consideration in that their audiences can also connect with them through Twitter, and this can bring a lot of challenges. In the digital age readers often feel that they have a right to share their opinions on articles, and they increasingly expect their response to be addressed by the writer.” If this sounds like your experience and you’re unsure how to find the time to engage with dozens of interested readers across various social networks, Concannon suggests: “The best approach is to clearly delineate your private and public personas. If you have profiles on open social networks such as Twitter, as opposed to closed networks like Facebook, where you are able to tightly control who you connect to, consider having separate accounts; one for personal use and one for work-related activity.” Halton concludes: “The idea of never posting anything online you wouldn’t be happy appearing in a national newspaper applies now more than ever. The main thing to remember is to establish what you would be happy to reveal and don’t go further than that. Enjoy the space, make use of the information, but be aware of your boundaries, because you’re not the only one watching out for a scoop.”
The NUJ’s ethics council is conducting research on members’ experience of social networking as it impacts on their professional lives. Please contact the group at ethics@nuj.org.uk
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