In the media rush to embrace Facebook (I’m no different), one thing strikes me as potentially dangerous for journalists. That’s sources. Facebook networks allow you to track all kinds of friendships, and when it comes to information they could quickly throw up potential sources.
By way of example, I was going to blog about something typically dull that a friend had told me about resource issues at a certain organisation. Although that friend wasn’t on Facebook, it seemed to me pretty obvious that fingers might be pointed at friends who were and who worked at the place in question. Hmmm. Obviously this isn’t life or death for me, because I’m just a blogging professor – but if I were a working journo? You tell me…
4 responses to “Facebook frenzy: revealing your sources”
That’s exactly what Norwegian journalists have spent the last month or so debating, a post on the key positions:
http://kristinelowe.blogs.com/kristine_lowe/2007/05/facebook_fever_.html
Despite the concerns raised here, I have an inkling that what is usually known as the silly season might very well turn into the Facebook season in Norway this year. For one, the gossip press has found a marvellous new source for stories, but I’ve also counted at least five frontpages in daily newspapers – and the school holiday hasn’t even started yet.
You were way ahead of me! Still, we have yet to see the emergence of Facebook etiquette…although the ‘remove friend’ option exists…
It can’t be too long before a story pops up based on facebook “misinformation”, either.
More than a few users post deliberate falsehoods on their profiles (largely for humour). If a journalist were to be caught out by something of this nature, use of facebook as a source could fall back dramatically…
In my case, it’s the photo…