Link Post for May 10th through May 11th

This is the A2SM Link Post for May 10th through May 11th. To see more of the bookmarks we’ve found, check out our Delicious Feed.

Blogging Code of Ethics

WordPress Arena.com has posted a great resource, Blogging Code of Ethics.

With blogs becoming more legitimate, it’s becoming important that bloggers start abiding to a code of ethics. No one is saying that bloggers have to be journalists, but with more of them taking over coverage of local politics and news in “Small Town USA” and covering important topics, some standards need to be set and met.

It’s Not Just Bloggers… Journalist Aren’t Innocent Either

Yes, there have been some so-called “journalists” who have broken their ethical pacts, but on the whole the ethical standards of journalists are one of the main reasons that has kept the news industry in business. 

Both Stephen Glass, from the New Republic, and Jayson Blair, from the New York Times, were  fired after it was found that they both had (separately)  fabricated and plagiarized in numerous stories. They are just two examples of why ethics are needed in blogging. Both had standards to meet and a strict code of ethics and when they broke them they were held accountable. This isn’t yet true in blogging.

Oh Boy, Here Comes Uncle Sam

Since there isn’t any set ethical standard for what bloggers write, or say, or do, the blogosphere is rampant with fake (i.e. paid) product reviews, distortions of facts, outright lies and other similar things. Because of this trend, the US Federal Trade Commission has set  a course to regulate and curb the abuses. The hope is to make this illegitimate step-child of journalism a legitimate and upstanding part of the Internet.

But Regulaton Isn’t Enough

Regardless of whether federal regulation is enough to prevent the above mentioned abuses, the responsibility ultimately belongs to the bloggers themselves. Therefore, as with traditional journalists, bloggers need to adopt a basic Code of Ethics.

The WordPress Arena article does a great job of starting us off:

Be Honest and Fair

Bloggers should be honest and fair in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Bloggers should:

• Never plagiarize.

• Identify and link to sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.

• Make certain that Weblog entries, quotations, headlines, photos and all other content do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context or be sensationalistic to the point of misleading the reader.

• Never distort the content of photos without disclosing what has been changed. Image enhancement is only acceptable for technical clarity. Label montages and photo illustrations. Also, cite the image source, if applicable.

• Never publish information they know is inaccurate — and if publishing questionable information, make it clear it’s in doubt.

• Distinguish between advocacy, commentary and factual information. Even advocacy writing and commentary should not misrepresent fact or context.

• Distinguish factual information and commentary from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

Minimizing Harm

Ethical bloggers must treat sources and subjects as human beings deserving of respect.

Bloggers should:

• Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by Weblog content. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.

• Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

• Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of information is not a license for arrogance.

• Recognize and respect people’s privacy.

• Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.

• Do not identify juvenile suspects, victims of sex crimes.

• Be careful about identifying those accused of criminal activity and misdeeds. Remember, innocent until proven guilty.

• Be Accountable

Bloggers Should:

• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

• Explain each Weblog’s mission and invite dialogue with the public over its content and the bloggers’ conduct.

• Disclose conflicts of interest, affiliations, activities and personal agendas.

• Deny favoured treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence content. When exceptions are made, disclose them fully to readers.

• Be wary of sources offering information for favours. When accepting such information, disclose the favours.

• Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

It’s not Perfect, Though a Good Start

Now, does a code of ethics stop bloggers from being malicious and devious? No, not at all. But it gives a frame work for which to start.

What are you thoughts on having a blogging code of ethics? Post your thoughts below in the comments.

Seth Goldstein is the publisher and co-editor of A2SM. He is also the co-host of the A2SM podcast. As a day job, Seth is the president of the Web Design and Internet Marketing firm Goldstein Media in Philadelphia, PA. Seth has more than 4 years experience as a professional journalist covering small town  politics and other issues. You can also see his musings at his personal blog SethGoldstein.net.

Link Post for January 2nd through January 4th

This is the A2SM Link Post for January 2nd through January 4th:

  • Kleiner-backed GOGII Releases textPlus for Android – Why pay for text messaging anymore when you can send texts for free? That’s the message GOGII is trying to send to users via its textPlus application, which has been wildly successful on the iPhone with over 3.2 million downloads.
  • More Smartphone Users Now Use Their Phones to Shop Online – Smartphone users are becoming increasingly comfortable with using their phones to shop online. According to new data from Compete, about 37% of smartphone users have purchased something with their handset in the last 6 months. Among the most popular items that these users bought are music, books, DVDs, video games and movie tickets. At the same time, though, Compete also found that smartphone users are very likely to abandon shopping sites that haven't been optimized for mobile usage. Almost 8% of smartphone owners who tried to buy something from their phone were simply unable to do so.
  • Flixster Acquires Rotten Tomatoes – Flixster just announced that it has acquired Rotten Tomatoes, the popular movie review site, from IGN Entertainment. IGN is a division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Flixster is one of the world's most popular movie communities and currently features about 2.3 billion user ratings and reviews from its users. Rumors about this acquisition first surfaced in late December, when Kara Swisher first reported that a potential acquisition of Flixster by MySpace would hinge upon a merger of Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster.
  • Twitter’s Psychologist Strikes Again: Analyze Your Lists – Dan Zarrella has long impressed us with his discourses on the science of retweets, as well as his psychoanalytic apps that scan and parse Twitter streams – one for general analysis and one for dreams.
  • The 50 Most-Blogged Albums of 2009, Streaming Free: HypeMachine Zeitgeist Out Now – Hype Machine, the smart, long-running MP3 blog aggregator, has posted its annual collection of the most-blogged-about albums, songs and musical artists of the year. Once again, the project is a pleasure to consume and will unfold throughout the month of January. Top albums 50 through 41, Mumford and Sons through Monsters of Folk, are available now in full for streaming.
  • Rock & Roll Will Never Die? It Might on Facebook – The graying of the Facebook population seems to have continued according to new stats released today by iStrategyLabs. And while one might expect more of the site's now nearly 10 million users over the age of 55 to be Neil Young fans, his "Rock N' Roll Will Never Die" refrain seems to be falling through. The listing of the term "rock and roll" as an interest is down over 60% among Facebook users in the past year.
  • ComScore Ups the Ante in Mobile Analytics – ComScore, a leading Web statistics provider, has joined with Flurry Analytics to provide a more complete picture on the who, what, when, where and how of our use of mobile media. Founded just over a year ago, Flurry has grown immensely and this move will only serve to boost its popularity.
  • Watching TV Together in Different Time Zones – NYTimes.com – Simple technology, including video chatting services like Skype, is making it possible for far-flung friends to watch shows together, even if they can’t share the same bowl of popcorn.
  • George Washington’s Rules for Social Media « digiphile – The following “rules” are interpretation of his intent, not President Washington’s words.
  • Why Twitter Will Endure – NYTimes.com – In the pantheon of digital nomenclature — brands within a sector of the economy that grew so fast that all the sensible names were quickly taken — it would be hard to come up with a noun more trite than Twitter. It impugns itself, promising something slight and inconsequential, yet another way to make hours disappear and have nothing to show for it. And just in case the noun is not sufficiently indicting, the verb, “to tweet” is even more embarrassing.

5 Social Media Rules Worth Breaking

alisabowmanRule #1: Update every day.

Why you should break it: No one is going to stop following you or unfriend you because you didn’t write a tweet or a status update. You lose friends and followers by writing too many updates, especially those boring ones that people tend to write when they think, “Dang it all! I need to write a status update, but I don’t know what to say.” When in doubt, don’t post.

Rule #2: Always reciprocate

Why you should break it: Someone just re-tweeted your tweet. So you retweet one of his. Someone just Facebooked one of your blog posts, so you Facebook one of hers. This type of reciprocation makes common sense, right? If someone does something nice for you, you should do something nice right back, right? Maybe, maybe not. If you want people to pay attention to the information you are sending out to the social web, then you need to continually put quality information out there. If you tell your friends to click on a bunch of boring links, they’ll eventually stop trusting you for information and will stop clicking on all of your links. For this reason, it’s not a good idea to randomly re-tweet a link that you have not clicked on yourself or that you don’t think is top quality stuff. Don’t retweet tweets that you have barely read. Definitely don’t reciprocate Follow Friday suggestions for people whose tweets you have either barely read or just can’t stand. Yes, reciprocity is important, but quality is even more so. Don’t reciprocate if it means your quality suffers.

Rule #3: Get as many friends and followers as possible, in any way possible

Why you should break it: What are your social media goals? Do you want stats you can brag about, or do you want to connect in a real way with people who will have your back and help you in any way they can? If it’s the latter, then more isn’t necessarily better. Mass following people (just to get a follow back) and placing yourself on follow lists does not build relationships. You build relationships one relationship at a time. It’s better to have 100 quality relationships than 1000 connections to people who couldn’t care less about who you are.

Rule #4: Do whatever Chris Brogan does (or Guy Kawasaki or any number of famous Tweeters)

Why you should break it: Chris Brogan is already doing what Chris Brogan does and that’s why people follow him. Brogan’s followers don’t want to follow someone just like Chris Brogan. They want the real him. Be yourself. Be real. Be unique. Then people will follow and connect with the real you.

Rule #5: Follow all of the important people who are listed on various “must follow lists”

Why you should break it: Follow people who you want to connect with, you want to learn from, and whose tweets you want to read. If those people happen to be on “must follow” lists, great. If not, plenty of less famous, less followed people are just as helpful, funny, and good—and they are a lot more likely to form a relationship with you.

What social media rules have you broken and lived to tell about? Leave a comment.

Alisa Bowman writes the marriage blog ProjectHappilyEverAfter.com, where she offers free marriage advice and help. A professional writer, six of her ghostwritten and co-written books have appeared on the NY Times best seller lists. Some people say that she’s a good follow on Twitter. If you agree, you can follow her @alisabowman.