A VC - Latest Comments in Social Media Rules For Journalists

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

shrikar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:59:58 -0000

Hey Fred,

I have to agree with WSJ on the fourth directive. Business and pleasure should indeed be seperated when interacting with your contacts on twitter etc. This is especially true when your job requires a high deal of discretion. Here the safest bet is to avoid all work related information ( unless it part of a deliberate marketing strategy ;D )

Regards
Shrikar

www.silvertiesdesignstudios...

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:31:22 -0000

Good points. It gives me greater appreciation for the issues

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

Mr. X — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:12:12 -0000

Fred,

The issues with sourcing/"friending" in journalism are not nearly as cut and dry as you portray. I served as a source (quoted on background or as a source who provided evidence/documents/etc.) for hundreds of stories in a niche area of politics. I knew all the reporters who covered that particular beat, I knew all the villains, etc. And, with a little bit of sleuthing, I could usually infer other sources in similar stories.

You asserted that "it is not going to be clear who your sources were on a particular story from a list of hundreds to thousands of 'friends'." That is completely untrue. For any specific story, I could think of four or five potential sources. If a reporter "friends" a source or two, I don't need to look through "hundreds or thousands" of names. I only need to see if that reporter is connected to one of those people.

That's the thing about beat reporting. Everyone knows everyone. And sometimes finding that one little piece of information that confirms that person A was a source changes everything. As a very confidential source, I would have been totally screwed if people following that beat knew I was friendly with this or that reporter. It would've completely compromised my ability to distribute information that the public needed to know.

In conclusion, the nexus between private sources and public acknowledgement of relationships is a difficult one to navigate. Until you've really operated in that world (and trust me, the world of venture capital, notwithstanding the silly gossip blogs, is nothing like the world of investigative reporting), be a little more circumspect before proclaiming hard and fast truths about it.

Cheers,

Mr. X

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

kipsteele — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:45:07 -0000

Pano I have to disagree with you here. NY is extending laws to cover investigative bloggers. Huffignton Post is putting money toward investigative blogging. People care about investigations and the research needed to get to the story. Openess will prompt people to seek out a voice to document and represent the causes that are having an impact on them.

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

kipsteele — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:40:34 -0000

Exactly. What a great comment. You cannot define yourself by thinking that creating rules in a boundary less frontier is going to work. Adapt or die

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:35:59 -0000

That's for sure

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

William Mougayar — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:24:21 -0000

Check out IBM's Social Computing Guidelines, as a contrast to WSJ's:
http://bit.ly/3yKymv. They seem to be more open-minded and less straight-jacket about it.

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:09:17 -0000

One person's gossip is another person's news

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

Amanda Chapel — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:56:37 -0000

Bastardized journalistic ethics and personalized community sourcing isn't a "new model;" it's just plain-old gossip.

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

kevinmurphy — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:03:14 -0000

I could not agree more with your last point. When did a wall get erected that divides a person from their personal life. There exists in every person a gut "right or wrong" feeling as it relates to their actions. I don't think any employer would want to hire a person who doesn't have a personal life with meaning on a spiritual, social, and moral level (among numerous others).

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

Bryan — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:07:21 -0000

Thank you for this article. It's a perfect example of why the newspaper industry is hurting right now. Their process of interacting with the public is too clinical and 1960's. I like it when bloggers and writers discuss their experiences and feelings on a topic because it makes the story human and interesting. I am very excited to see how things change with the media over the next few years. I have a feeling that we will see a lot more online journalism and blogging and a lot less newspapers.

Below is a blog that just started that I like to read.

http://publiusandcentinel.b...

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:30:49 -0000

Same reason you don't want to see your local deli go out of business

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:29:02 -0000

You gotta mix it up

All business is boring and nobody cares

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

andreaitis — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:23:16 -0000

Journalists have always mixed business and pleasure. It usually happened in the nearest bar at the end of the day (and long into the night). The best moments happened in those bars: that day's scoop celebrated, the competition dissected, the next day's show mapped out on a napkin. Young wannabe reporters learned the real lessons in those bars.

As reporters are cut loose and newsrooms crumple, those bars are less crowded. Today, Twitter and Facebook are the new journalist hangout. And the "New Journalist" hangout. Thrive on.

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

leeschneider — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:50:55 -0000

Interesting reading these comments. Not too many people made note of the rule re: mixing business and pleasure. I'm a firm believer that Twitter is just the forum to mix business with pleasure. A friend and I have been debating the proper use of Twitter as he's trying to build a brand and bring awareness to his biz (@bgreenstore). I argue that re-tweeting a joke or funny anecdote does no harm, but rather brings a personality to the person tweeting (as long as it's done infrequently). He argues that until the brand is successfully established, the tweets should be strictly based around the business. Thoughts?

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

T.D. Klein — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:42:39 -0000

Fred,

There's lots going on here, but the key word that keeps popping up in your post and everyone's comments is "relationship." Old media simply has not figured out how to get comfortable with the new type of (two way) relationship they now have with their audience, and they certainly haven't figured out how to monetize that reltionship. The miscellany of rules they've tried to impose on their journalists is a futile attempt to set the ground rules for those relationships. I doubt the audience will comply; they're more likely to go elsewhere. I contrast that your blog and to something like the revamped Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com) where the writers stories are posted with mostly unfiltered comments and, indeed, become part of the story. Add some fancy graphics and a few regular bloggers alongside you and A VC doesn't look so different. The WSJ becomes the outlier.

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

Kontra — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:54:18 -0000

Why?

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

David Hamilton — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:10:49 -0000

I guess your point could be that journalists social network chat would be different from their actual reporting, which is true, even if the line seems to get more blurred everyday.

But I think the real problem is that current social media are actually publication in their own right. This is so unlike the way that people traditionally communicate. It is rather like walking into a mixed room of workmates, friends, relations and strangers and shouting an opinion - very few of us actually communicate like that (and those that do probably attract labels very quickly!)

Similarly, very few of us publish our Rolodex. You might argue that this is a new model that people will adapt to, but the history of technology shows that people stick with what they know, even on the bleeding edge, which is why portable computing remains very close to the form factor of the A4/Letter and the Pocketbook.

Clearly the current Social Media implementations have a long way to go (as it evolves to 2.0) before they replicate our natural methods of networking and communication.

Think I've figured out where social media is heading - the end game so to speak. The interesting bit now is figuring out how we are going to get from where we are now to that end point.

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

hypermark — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:19:28 -0000

You and me both. It bums me out to no end to find a magazine that I loved (Portfolio) spontaneously disappear and my local newspaper (SF Chronicle) reduced to the size of a pamphlet. Oh, did I forget my local news station (KRON) doing away with sports on Sunday nights?

Inspired me to right a tongue in cheek post called, Gallows Humor: The Media "Business"
URL: http://bit.ly/By5AR

Check it out if interested.

Mark

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

Morgan Warstler — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:59:47 -0000

Yep. I must admit I'm torn. I hate reality TV because I'm convinced it is an intentional renunciation of talent by an audience that doesn't want to feel less than the professional actors. It happened in the 80's - remember Real People and That's Incredible? I'm convinced blogging has its same roots there. Blogging is a slightly lessor thing, it would be healthy if even the best bloggers just admitted it. Journalists are dollars, and bloggers are dimes or nickels - it takes a lot more of them to get the same job done. Ayn Rand's romantic age and all that. Kant. We should be able to ENJOY amateur hour, without feeling the need to pretend it is just as good as LeBron James (Go Cavs).

To your point, the issue of internal press policy, there is something that professional journalism does that is different than blogging, it has to do with the legal and financial responsiblity of getting it wrong. A free press needs a big wallet to withstand other guy's legal departments. Secondly, their credibility is at stake, and frankly the quickest way for me to prove the NYT is a biased liberal rag is to let their reporters run their mouths on twitter.

So I'm in favor of a more open policy in the professional press IF those of us arguing for it are the same people reminding the amatuers they are still amatuers. That attitude alone amongst the audience, will make the professional press more likely to play with new tech.

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:55:08 -0000

I read that one

Wow

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:47:13 -0000

Indeed. But I so badly want them to get it and succeed with the new model

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:47:10 -0000

That's the old way

I'm not sure its the new way

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:45:05 -0000

Maybe samgadjones isn't trying very hard

I work hard to make this community what it is

Others can and should do the same

Its the future. I'm betting on it with my money and my mouth :)

Re: Social Media Rules For Journalists

fredwilson — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:42:08 -0000

You are missing my point but its almost 1am here in nyc and I just got off a 6 hour flight so I don't have the energy to make it