NPR’s new social media guidelines

By Robin J Phillips on Oct 16, 2009 in Basics, Best Practices

Alicia Shepard, NPR ombudsman

NPR is asking all of us to weigh in on their new new social media guidelines.

Here are the actual guidelines, which cover the use of Social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter by every member of NPR’s News Division.

NPR’s ombudsman Alicia Shepard explains that the guidelines meet “the need for NPR to at all costs protect the network’s most valuable asset — its credibility.”

Why come out with them now? Have there been problems? No, Shepard says, they’ve been working on them for some time.

About the Author

I am digital director at the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism, which I joined in 2009. Before that I was Online Community Manager for azcentral, the online site for The Arizona Republic. Before arriving in Arizona, I worked at Newsday where I was Deputy Business Editor. I was the small business editor at BusinessWeek Online. I teach journalists to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools to expand and manage their networks. And I am a cofounder of #wjchat, a weekly Twitter chat about web journalism. You can reach me at Email: Robin.Phillips@BusinessJournalism.org OR RobinJPhillips.com OR @RobinJP