Growing up with Social Media

Kaitlyn Hendershot
kh679010@ohio.edu

Many of the students in this class have grown up with computers and Internet and hardly remember a time when these tools were considered new innovations. They were always just there, somewhere in the background of our lives. As the Internet really took hold, we were coming of age and able to utilize it to its full extent.

Most journalism students today will have had the experience of explaining Facebook or Twitter to parents or even on the job as interns to coworkers. Now, that puts us in a unique position. However, while we’ve always used these social media sites—from the beginning with Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and so much more—there’s added responsibility to using them in a professional setting. 

Though so many of us may know the lines that we shouldn’t cross, those lines might not always be evident or even forgotten before we push “send.” It’s so quick and easy to share ideas with the world, which is truly intoxicating from a journalistic standpoint, but it must always be true, fair and accurate. We must always remember that when we step out of the newsroom door, our jobs don’t end—we’re still journalists.

Photo by Mashable.com.

The RTDNA guidelines for social media and blogging explain, “Personal and professional lives merge online. Newsroom employees should recognize that even though their comments may seem to be in their ‘private space,’ their words become direct extensions of their news organizations. Search engines and social mapping sites can locate their posts and link the writers’ names to their employers.”

Sharing online has become a key point of our generation. We share everything about our lives, but as discussed earlier in this course, the perception of bias can be just as dangerous as actual bias, so even in our personal lives, we must be cognizant of what we’re sharing.

Another key element of using social media comes on the job and how we use it to supplement our coverage with social media. Oftentimes, that can mean breaking news through Twitter, but first, a journalist must stop and think: Is this true? Before posting online, a journalist must stop and question the accuracy of what he or she is saying. 

What we say as journalists from an account of the news organization can have great impact. Though the AP was not behind the tweets that went out from their account stating that there had been explosions in the White House back in August, the effects were notable. People believed it to be true and stocks fell for a short period. Keeping our accounts safeguarded is crucial. Regardless of who was behind this report, the effects show just how important it is for us as journalists to responsible and verify all information coming from our social media accounts.

There have been many examples of falsely reported information through Twitter by news organizations, famously the case of Joe Paterno’s misreported death, which CBS Sports fell victim to. 

As consumers of news, we must be just as skeptical. When Michael Jackson passed away a few years ago, Geneva Overholser explains in a Nieman Reports article, that she was skeptical of believing news when just seeing it social media and by hearing it through word of mouth.

We can’t just take everything we see on TMZ and through Twitter accounts that are not reputable, at face value. Though as Overholser explained, those places could be a springboard. Oftentimes taking that news and searching for verification through other sources is key.

That’s why, as journalists, we must be accurate. Let those who the public doesn’t trust break the news. Overholser explained in her piece that reader loyalty doesn’t disappear because a news organization isn’t the first to report news. Accuracy is far more important than being first, which is something we must remember when tweeting out breaking news. Wait until you have solid backing to stories. Your readers are likely going to wait with you because they want accurate information.

We, as journalists, must be responsible on social media both personally and professionally. We must be unbiased and right when we use social media. We have seen many changes in our lifetimes and we’re bound to see plenty more on the digital front, but we must remain ethical no matter what platform we use.