How to best represent yourself on social media
- Emily Chavez
- Oct 2, 2018
- 2 min read
The way people utilize twitter varies. For some, it’s to tweet about what they had for breakfast, for others its to look at memes or to complain to a manufacturer. Some use it to get the news. Most of the time, not a lot of thought goes into a tweet, but that’s not the case for all users, especially journalists.
It’s common practice for journalists to sign a social media policy when they enter in a new contract. I compared the guidelines of three major news outlets to see how each company wants their employees portrayed on the internet.
“In social media posts, our journalists must not express partisan opinions, promote political views, endorse candidates, make offensive comments or do anything else that undercuts The Times’s journalistic reputation.”
“Our journalists should be especially mindful of appearing to take sides on issues that The Times is seeking to cover objectively.”
We consider all social media activity by our journalists to come under this policy (Facebook page, Twitter feed, Instagram, Snapchat or other social media accounts are private zones, separate from your role at The Times).”
“Conduct yourself online just as you would in any other public circumstances as an NPR journalist.”
“When NPR bloggers post about breaking news, they do not cite anonymous posts on social media sites — though they may use information they find there to guide their reporting. They carefully attribute the information they cite and are clear about what NPR has and has not been able to confirm.”
“We shouldn’t SHOUT IN ALL CAPS when we’re angry. We shouldn’t take the bait from trolls and sink to their level. We don’t use foul language. We pause to re-read our responses before hitting ‘reply.’”
“Social-media accounts maintained by Washington Post journalists reflect upon the reputation and credibility of the newsroom.”
“Post journalists must refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything – including photographs or video – that could objectively be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism.”
“Every comment or link we share should be considered public information, regardless of privacy settings.”
We need to make sure we’re using social media to grow our careers instead of posting for the sake of posting, especially as young journalist entering the field. Although these guidelines are just three examples, newsrooms around the country follow the similar rules. Always be conscious of what you’re posting because you will never know who will see it.
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