Seven guidelines for social media guidelines
10/30/2009 4:39:00 PM
After all the recent hubbub over social media policies at The Washington Post and National Public Radio, one of my bosses forwarded me a link to a database of guidelines at SocialMediaGovernance.com.
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Six reasons why journalists are lazy about story comments
9/11/2009 1:05:00 PM
We have arrived at yet another spasm of consternation over the value of readers’ comments on the stories we write — at least the third such spasm in the past two years. A spate of news stories, commentaries, blog items and surveys have come out. We debate whether readers should be allowed to comment. We deplore the quality of the comments. We lament the effect they may have on our brands.
An item on PoynterOnline noted several examples of news organizations that had curtailed or eliminated story comments because of their concerns over quality — particularly racist rants and personal attacks on readers.
Reacting to some of this news, my own newspaper blogged about the issue of story comment quality, surveying readers on their opinion of the comments. Since the unscientific poll went up July 16, more than 700 readers have voted. Fifty-eight percent said comments should be dropped. Only 28 percent chose this option: “Worth having. But improve your system of policing them.”
That’s the option I chose.
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