Steve Ladurantaye

This was just sent to me, and apparently was sent to Sun Media reporters this morning. It is from Sun Media’s guidebook, I’m told. It’s on Page 22 if you have yourself  a copy (which I do not, but I’d be more than happy to receive a copy). Any typos are mine, not the handbook’s.

Social media is a broad category that encompasses many of the web-based tools that we use for interacting with our audience, conducting research, presenting information and gather story ideas. Sun Media has a social media usage policy for all employees that offers guidelines and etiquette notes for how to use these tools.

• Don’t insult your employer, your readers or your coworkers on the Internet
• Assume that any and all social media remarks you broadcast will be associated with Sun Media because you are a staff member. Off-colour or unprofessional remarks may travel widely and therefore should be avoided.
• Do not post confidential documents or information to any website.
• When to post material to Facebook and Twitter is largely determined by how long we are able to maintain control of the story. Widely available breaking news should be posted to social sites immediately to increase of visibility as all media outlets are publishing their material. Conversely, in situations will only be known when we decide to publish, we can co-ordinate social media release with web release (ie Tweeting a link instead of just the info).
• Audience engagement through @-replies, Facebook comments and other forms of communication is encouraged.
• Experiment where you feel it’s appropriate but e-mail the social media manager if you have anything new that you want   to try.
• Not everyone must tweet or post to Facebook. In fact, only about 30 per cent of people on these sites world-wide actually post content to them. That’s fine. But everyone must know how to use them in a professional capacity for research purposes, whether through a personal account or a work account.