The ethics of social media

One of the most interesting sessions we attended during the conference was about the ethics of social media like Facebook and Twitter, for both news-gathering and personal purposes. The room was packed with college and professional journalists looking to learn about a relatively new ethical dilemma; most journalistic codes of ethics, like the SPJ Code of Ethics, have not yet been updated to address these issues. The panel of professionals at the session said it is important to be aware of professionalism online, but not to be afraid to use social media as a journalist. Here are some of the interesting things I learned from the panel:

1) If you wouldn't want to see something while eating breakfast, don't post it... even if it's online.
2) Live tweeting is like broadcasting, so the same professional standards apply.
3) Friend or follow all sides of a political debate to receive information from all sides and to keep viewers or followers from thinking you are biased.
4) Develop a personal ethics code to guide you through ethical decisions for all forms of media. Think about what you will do, what you would feel uncomfortable doing, and what you absolutely won't do as a journalist.