LA Times tells journalists to think before they tweet

A few weeks ago I fell off my chair at a comment one magazine editor posted on Twitter, speculating that members of a certain London club suffered from, shall we say, onanistic tendencies.

Such scope for personal expression may not last long. The LA Times has issued updated  social media content guidelines for their staff emphasising that just about anything they post online both personal and work related, reflects on the reputation and credibility of the newspaper.

“Integrity is our most important commodity: Avoid writing or posting anything that would embarrass The Times or compromise your ability to do your job,” says the first guideline.

It goes on, “Your professional life and your personal life are intertwined in the online world, just as they are offline, attempts, for instance, to distinguish your high school friends from your professional associates are fine, but in all spaces one should adhere to the principle that as an editorial employee you are responsible for maintaining The Times’ credibility.”

The guidelines extend even to retweeting posts on Twitter:  ”When transmitting information online..as in re-Tweeting material from other sources..apply the same standards and level of caution you would in more formal publication.”

While social media is banned in many companies for productivity reasons – 54% of US companies according to an October survey, online reputation by contrast is hardly monitored at all. And which one is more important? Warren Buffett’s annual memo apparently always contains a variation of this line:

“We can afford to lose money–even a lot of money. We cannot afford to lose reputation–even a shred of reputation.”