Teaching tools of the trade, and ethics, too

   There is no shortage of information dealing with social media ethics on the Internet. Just about every journalism organization, like the Journalism Education Association and the Online Journalism Review, offers tips, policies and warnings on the subject. But don't assume most newspapers take advantage of all the advice.
   Journalists are Tweeting, Facebooking and blogging more than ever, but it seems we are doing so with little or no guidance. I am convinced journalism educators are partly responsible for changing this lack of guidance.
   It's up to us to study the current trends and teach our students what they are. But I admit: keeping up with technology isn't an easy job. There's literally dozens of social media tools and apps available. How do we choose which ones to highlight or use in our journalism classes?
   Well, that's a matter of what our goals are as teachers. My Intro to PJ class uses Blogger because I find it's more photo-friendly than WordPress. It's simply about style and technique. But whether I use Blogger or WordPress isn't really the point. What matters is that we're ethically responsible with every tool and app we use.
   My deep appreciation goes out to educators like Mindy McAdams and the instructor for this course, John Bowen, who dedicate so much of their time researching the social media topic and sharing their goldmine of information with us.  Their expertise helps me to answer many of these tough questions:
1. Should instructors be Facebook friends with our students, and should students be friends with their sources?
2. Should journalists mix professional and personal Tweets and blog posts?
3. How often should student journalists blog?
4. How do we force students to follow each other's blogs, and should we?
5. Are students journalists permitted to bash the school or their teachers on their own Facebook page?
6. Is there a policy for retweeting material from a source?
7. Are anonymous comments permitted on a student's blog?
8. How should social communicators market themselves in order to build high traffic on their blogs or Twitter accounts?
   Yes, traditional ethical and legal policies are still applicable for today's journalists, but we must  constantly update our online policies for the new media, otherwise known as the Fifth Estate.