Finding the Outer Limits

Seems like those internets always work in waves. A month ago, it was faux tornado warnings. Now it's a rash of social media missteps, particularly in the media community, that's leading to a rush to create guidelines for employees on-line.

One of the starting points was an Associated Press reporter being called out for trashing a particular newspaper chain's financial decisions. Wired has great reporting on this. The result is AP putting out its own policies, which generated considerable commentary. You can see the policy in PDF here off Wired.

The follow-on has been social media guidelines at the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other notable legacy institutions.

Commentary between the network media and the legacy has been, well, predictable. The youngsters saying you can't trust anyone over 30 and the old folks telling them to turn down that damn music. I'm particularly fond of this blend quote from a member of the TIME staff picked up by blogger Ann All, opining on the disconnect:

Most of this boils down to the classic old-media problem with new media: fear of the loss of control. . . . Transparency is one of the great benefits of the Web, not a danger. The audience for media outlets wants to know—and deserves to know—how decisions are made, what goes into producing a story, how the process of knowledge-gathering and idea-making is constant and flawed. Hiding that process isn't about serving anyone but ourselves—really, covering our asses. And that only hurts us; journalists are better off showing that they're human, that they make mistakes and that they (hopefully) learn from them.

In the corporate world, Intel and IBM are getting a lot of praise on how to strike the balance. Their guidelines serve as solid legal reminders that employees have certain responsibilities -- you can't break laws, embarrass the company or give out proprietary information -- but also encourage their folks to join the conversation.

In the blogosphere, Ann All has great columns (see her links above), but also at ZDNet and Editor and Publisher. The E&P gives plenty of anectdotes from various newspapers that have faced this problem during the late spring and early summer.