By Maud Forlini

Social networks help journalists keep a watching brief on breaking news. Many also want to play an active role on the networks, bringing them into direct contact with news sources as well as readers, without the barriers which have traditionally existed between news producers and consumers.

AFP, one of the world’s three biggest news agencies, with 1,500 journalists working in 150 countries and six languages, is providing a guide for its journalists participating on social networks, after months of internal discussion.

The Agency asks its journalists who are active on Facebook and Twitter to respect the rules regarding the Agency's ethics, as well as its values of independence, balance and impartiality.

Journalists wishing to participate on a professional basis should use their name and indicate their position within AFP. On Twitter, they should use the hashtag #AFP to distinguish professional from personal comment. If they solely want to comment in a private context, they can open a second account without referring to their work as a journalist for AFP.

To build up a following, they can post items of news about their area of coverage, personal observations and colour, but breaking news must be reserved exclusively for AFP clients. Alerts are not to be published on social networking sites.

Though a personal tone is conventional on social networks, journalists should ensure a neutral position regarding areas of professional coverage and do nothing which might damage AFP's general image of impartiality. They must also avoid any criticism of their colleagues in other media.

This guide will be updated regularly to keep abreast of technologies and practices. It is part of a broader AFP strategy regarding social networks and the Internet. AFP's presence on the Internet is vital to maintain and consolidate its technological and editorial dynamism as part of its capacity to better meet the needs of its clients.

Over the past year, the agency has appointed a journalist with specific responsibility for covering social networks, conducted numerous internal training courses, strengthened the rules concerning use and verification of information coming from the social networks and launched a Facebook page in English and in French.

To access the AFP journalists guide to using the social networks

To access the rules of usage for social media

About the author

Maud Forlini is PR for AFP.