The Dangers of Friending Sources

It's better to be discreet with your friending than not

John Schwartz
js135210@ohio.edu
It's difficult for me to sympathize with people who are opposed to the reaction they get from their social media posts. For instance, in one of the readings for today, a series of tweets from Cassandra Fox blew up from her modest 13,000 followers to spread all across the internet, an act to which she "'did not consent.'"

Who cares? That might sound harsh, but the internet is full of infinitely more harshness. Whether or not Cassandra Fox wanted to be part of the news cycle that day, she posted something publicly, on the internet. That gives anyone free reign to take it, pick it apart, remix it, retweet it, reply to it, etc. It is Fox's right to free speech that allows her to tweet whatever she wants, and its people's right to free speech to respond to that.

Moving on to the topic of 'friending sources,' I refuse to believe that that is a good idea in any circumstance. Our speaker from OSU urged us to stay out of ethical grey areas, which in my mind is the absolute perfect word to describe a Facebook friend. A social, ethical, and virtual grey area.

First off, the argument that you need to friend someone in order to keep a better line on them or to keep in touch with them is untrue. Most prominent people have their own page, where they will post relevant news information. Messaging is also not limited to just friends, if someone has your Facebook address they can send you a message on it.

Other argue that it blurs the line between professional and personal, making it easier to get sources to talk to you in a more informal way. I think that this is crossing into very dangerous territory. Personal and professional lines exist in order to keep our work and play separate, which serves a vital purpose. Someone who finds themselves unable to distinguish frequent sources from something much more personal has most likely lost themselves a job.

Finally, if you have the information that a source has accepted your friend request, so does the rest of the internet, regardless of your privacy settings. Especially if you work mainly online, there are people out there whose main source of fun is harassing journalists, trying to find any bit of dirt that they can bring to the argument of journalistic integrity.

If you and a source are mutually following each other on Twitter, if you are Facebook friends, if you've used a Groupon together, they will find out, and they will use it against you. An argument of, 'Oh, it just helps me keep in touch with them better' or, 'I only use my Facebook for professional purposes,' is only going to dig you into a deeper and deeper hole.

Better to not give the trolls any bait at all. If you want to keep in close touch with a source, give them your business card, not access to your whole online social life.