As the social networking site, Facebook, becomes more accessible, journalists are being warned by employers to limit their use of private information of sources on the site.
The Boston Globe reported that this past December, Facebook made changes that allowed its users to share personal information with greater ease. However, keeping other information strictly on your page has now become a larger challenge.
The new changes allow for convenient access of the information that the network provides, offering journalists a new tool to access private information of sources including photos.
An online survey conducted last year revealed that 56 per cent of 371 online and print journalists said that social media like Facebook was an important research tool for their stories.
Despite the heightened use of the site, a report from the guardian.co.uk says media employees are being warned by their managers to consider a number of “legal and ethical issues.”
The same report says that although the BBC does not yet have a privacy policies in place, journalists there are being asked to use to use vigilance when using photos as they could be easily used out of context by the media.
Steve Hermann, editor of the BBC website was quoted by the guardian.co.uk saying that “The boundary between what's public and what's private isn't always easy to define online, and I think it's also true to say it's not something people always give a huge amount of thought to when posting.”
So you might want to think about posting photos from that Saturday night party because it might not be for your eyes only.
The Boston Globe reported that this past December, Facebook made changes that allowed its users to share personal information with greater ease. However, keeping other information strictly on your page has now become a larger challenge.
The new changes allow for convenient access of the information that the network provides, offering journalists a new tool to access private information of sources including photos.
An online survey conducted last year revealed that 56 per cent of 371 online and print journalists said that social media like Facebook was an important research tool for their stories.
Despite the heightened use of the site, a report from the guardian.co.uk says media employees are being warned by their managers to consider a number of “legal and ethical issues.”
The same report says that although the BBC does not yet have a privacy policies in place, journalists there are being asked to use to use vigilance when using photos as they could be easily used out of context by the media.
Steve Hermann, editor of the BBC website was quoted by the guardian.co.uk saying that “The boundary between what's public and what's private isn't always easy to define online, and I think it's also true to say it's not something people always give a huge amount of thought to when posting.”
So you might want to think about posting photos from that Saturday night party because it might not be for your eyes only.
Photo caption: An online survey by CISION Global Media Intelligence says that more journalists are finding social media sites increasingly important tools in their story research. (photo from CISION study)
