Good Timing

This week I've been watching a young family member struggle with social media etiquette. Well, she hasn't exactly struggled - she's voiced her opinions loudly (in all caps at times) and clearly. Her catfight with a "friend" started with a misunderstanding and quickly escalated into an ugly, nasty exchange that went on for more than a day.

On my lunch break today, I called and preached a sermon about the lasting nature of the Internet, the likelihood that future employers might well conduct Internet searches, the potential legal issues, and so forth. My young relative, to her credit, had already been thinking about her behavior. She was contrite and resolved to take the high road in future. And she apologized for any embarrassment she might have caused adult family members.

While I could have done without this situation, it did provide me with a personal angle on we have been reading about lately concerning social media issues associated with scholastic media. My young relative did not work on a school newspaper or yearbook (more's the pity), but she told me during our phone conversation that she is mindful of the example she needs to set for the little girl she babysits.

It's highly likely, then, that my take on this week's assignment involving a guide to social and digital media for an editorial policy will touch on these points from "Online Ethical Considerations":

• We will not create personal or professional attacks in our use of social media on the people (we) report on. We will keep the personal and the professional separate.
• We agree that staff members should conduct themselves in social media forums with an eye to how their behavior or comments might appear if called upon to defend them as a news organization.