This presentation was held by PD Dr. Wiebke Loosen, Julius Reimer, M.A., and Dr. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt at the General Online Research Conference 2012 in Mannheim, Germany. It deals with an exploratory content analysis of 17 social media guidelines released by German, Swiss and Anglo-American news media organisations. The study focussed on the following questions: - Do the guidelines regulate or advice journalists' private and/or professional use of social media? - Which legal foundations and problems are addressed? - Which role or activities of the audience are mentioned? - Which journalistic activities (e.g. investigating, selection and observation of topics and events) are regulated and advised?

1. Social Media Guidelines in Journalism
PD Dr. Wiebke Loosen
Julius Reimer, M.A.
Dr. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt
GOR12
Mannheim, March 6th 2012

2. Agenda
• Background: social media and journalism
• Method and sample
• Categories
• Results
• Conclusion
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3. Background: social media and journalism
• Social media are increasingly relevant for journalism
à New job descriptions (e.g. social media editor)
à New competencies (e.g. research methods, presentation formats)
à New work routines (e.g. community management)
(see e.g. Williams et al. 2011; Singer 2010; Domingo et al. 2008)
à Need to manage the different options to interact with the audience resp. the users
• One way: social media guidelines which advise or even regulate journalists’ social
media activities
à Relevant sources for studying how journalism tries to manage its extension to new
communication spaces and practices
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4. Method and sample
Method
• Content analysis of SMGs of media organisations/newsrooms
Sample
• Publicly accessible: 9 (incl. 5 Anglo-American best practice examples)
• For internal use: 8
• Total: 17
• 11 German, 2 British, 3 US-American, 1 Swiss
• 4 newspapers, 11 broadcasters, 3 news agencies
• 8 private organisations, 9 public service broadcasters
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5. Categories
Private and/or professional use Role/activities of the audience
• Dialogue
Legal foundations and problems • Criticism/suggestions for improvement
• Copyright • Identify topics
• Brands, logos, titles etc. • Generate content
• Confidential Information/reputational
damage
Journalistic activities
• Ethical Problems
• Advertising/distributing of content
• Personal rights/data protection
• Investigating/fact-checking
• Protection of minors
• Transparency
• Observation of events/topics
Intra-coder reliability ranged • Selection of topics to be covered
from .76 to .94
• Editing of news content
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6. Results
Private and/or professional use (n=17)
“Assume that your professional life and your
Private and professional use 15 personal life will merge online regardless of
your care in separating them.”
Professional use only 1
Private use only 0
Not evident 1
“Everyone who works for XY must be mindful “Make clear in how far you are speaking as a
that opinions he or she expresses may private person or as a journalist.” (transl.: JR)
damage XY’s reputation as an unbiased
source of news.”
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7. Results
Legal foundations and problems addressed (n=17)
Copyright 15
Brands, logos, titles etc. 12
Confidential Information/ “Confidential and in-house information does not belong
11
reputational damage in public networks and fora.” (transl.: JR)
Ethical problems 11 5 Anglo-American, 5 German, 1 Swiss SMG
Personal rights/data protection 9 1 private org., 8 public service broadcasters
Protection of minors 6 Only public service SMG
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8. Results
Role/activities of the audience (n=17)
Dialogue 11
Criticism/
8
suggestions for improvement
Generate content 4 3 German public service broadcasters
Identify topics 3 Only German SMG
4 guidelines do not mention any audience role or activity.
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9. Results
Use of social media for journalistic activities (n=17)
“They can be valuable tools in disseminating news and
Advertising/distributing of content 9
information.”
Investigating/fact-checking 8
Transparency 7 Deliver “insight into our working routines”
Observation of events/topics 6 “Participating in social media can help identify trends at
an early stage […] or seize ideas for topics” (transl.: JR)
Selection of topics to be covered 5 “Through their use of social media, users can influence
the prioritisation of topics” (transl.: JR)
Editing of news content 0
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10. Conclusion
• Hardly any differences between groups (countries; private and public service news media;
newspapers, broadcasters and news agencies)
• Most guidelines address
• professional as well as private use of social media,
• copyright issues, confidential information and reputational damage,
• users as dialogue partners and critics rather than as creators of content,
• the distribution of content and investigating rather than the collective selection and
production of news.
• Yet, differences between single SMGs
à No profession-wide standards concerning social media activities of news organisations
and journalists, so far
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11. References
• Domingo, David/Thorsten Quandt/Ari Heinonen/Steve Paulussen/Jane B. Singer/Marina
Vujnovic (2008): Participatory journalism practices in the media and beyond: An international
comparative study of initiatives in online newspapers. In: Journalism Practice, vol. 2(3): 326-342.
• Singer, Jane B. (2010): Quality Control. Perceived effects of user-generated content on
newsroom norms, values and routines. In: Journalism Practice, vol. 4(2): 127-142.
• Williams, Andy/Claire Wardle/KarinWahl-Jorgensen (2011): Have they got news for us?
Audience revolution or business as usual at the BBC? In: Journalism Practice, vol. 5(1): 85-99.
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12. Thank you for your attention.
PD Dr. Wiebke Loosen
Julius Reimer, M.A.
Dr. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt
Hans-Bredow-Institut
Warburgstraße 8-10
20354 Hamburg
j.reimer@hans-bredow-institut.de
@jpub20team
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