Patrick Beeson

"Be smart." That was the central nugget of the Social Media Club of Knoxville's panel last night on Social Media Liability, Ethics and Policy.

The event, held at the Square Room on Market Square, was well-attended by folks from Knoxville's marketing, public relations and media organizations. You can read the Twitter stream from the event using the #smcknox hashtag.

Panel participants Jeremy Floyd, Erin Donovan and Chad Parizman all provided great input on the topic, though Floyd's legal background clearly held more weight. I appreciated hearing anecdotes from both WBIR and Scripps Networks however.

But I felt the panel barely touched on the topic I tried to introduce in a question: How the news media should balance the social media contributions from its employees.

The panel kicked off with the event that perhaps spurred this event: The lawsuit against the local restaurant The Pizza Kitchen by marketing firm Low and Tritt. Floyd dipped into his legal background here, though the topic quickly changed to more of an ethical discussion about when to tweet (and when to avoid it).

One point I found interesting about the lawsuit was proving that the publication -- I do believe tweets and Facebook updates are publishing -- of the offending tweets were actually "seen" by the public. One can assume they were, but measuring the value of those views would be more important. This is a topic we're looking at for Scripps in fact.

I'd want to know the following to measure the real impact of those tweets:

• How many people retweeted the tweets?
• How many people linked to the tweet?
• Was it aggregated on Facebook or other networks? Were there any comments on the Facebook update?
• Did any tweets contain a link?

You could also look at the time the tweet was present, which Floyd mentioned, but the impact from that is a big guess since the Web doesn't know timezones.

This topic has clear implications when introducing the ethical issue of media employees using social media. And managerial control over social media accounts using policies or similar documents occupied a substantial portion of the panels' time.

I was glad to hear how seriously Scripps Networks is taking the formulation of a social media policy -- Parizman said their team consisted of lawyers, marketing, IT and other folks -- since their company has a mix of outside contractors, internal teams and TV personalities that sometimes drop the "c-bomb" (you can guess what that is). Local TV might not have the same cache with regard to their "personalities," but as Donavan admitted, she is one nonetheless.

Donovan said she uses two Twitter and Facebook accounts, one professional and one private, to keep work and personal life separate. I think this is a good technique, but as social-media guru Katie Granju commented, there is no such thing as a completely private account. I agree completely.

Granju said it's best to consider any social media contribution in the same light as what you'd say on the Today Show. If you start here, you'll likely never say anything that will get you or your company in too much trouble. Unless, that is, you're a Tom Cruise or other obnoxious celebrity.

I was disappointed Donovan and her panel mates didn't extend this discussion to talk about the journalistic side of social media updates. This topic weighs heavy on many folks I talk with at Scripps and other media outlets. For example, a reporter would not want to follow certain political parties or favor certain businesses because it would effect their objectivity with regard to stories they produce.

I don't think having two accounts (public and private) can solve this. Just like policies that forbid newsroom employees from putting political bumper stickers on their cars, I think folks doing journalism need to be very smart how they use social networks to avoid contaminating their own stories in addition to their employer.

My former employer The Roanoke Times has a great policy for their newsroom employees for social media. Scripps will also have a complete policy soon.

Many newspaper folks might discount local TV news in terms of journalism, but I think it's still in their best interest to keep this credo in mind.

Did you attend the Social Media Club's winter panel? Post your thoughts on my take in the comments.