Do a web search for “social media tips” are you’ll likely get way more hits from self-described “social media experts” (or “gurus”) than you ever thought possible.

I am neither an expert nor a guru, but sometimes people ask for a few tips on using social media, particularly Twitter. One rule I always say for myself that I encourage others, especially journalists, follow: Don’t retweet a link without clicking it first and seeing what’s there.

It can be tempting to pass along the information quickly, even from a trusted news source. But I wouldn’t email a URL to a friend without reading the article first. And I doubt my grandma, long known for clipping and sending newspaper articles to her family, would be that sloppy.

This example isn’t earth shattering and didn’t cause a scandal or anything of the sort. But it is illustrative of the point.

If you have a newsroom or personal policy about this, or another social media topic, please let us know in the comments.

Scott Leadingham is editor of SPJ’s Quill magazine. On Twitter: @scottleadingham

Tags: Alex Brink, Keith Price, paid to play, scholarship money, social media tips, Twitter tips, University of Washington

This entry was posted by Scott Leadingham on Thursday, October 20th, 2011 at 11:32 am and is filed under Social Media, Style issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.