ABC sets down web guidelines

Crystal Ja | 6th November 2009

THE public broadcaster has just released a new set of guidelines for employees using social media, including popular internet sites like Facebook and MySpace.

AAP

Poll

Has Facebook been banned in your workplace?

This poll ended on 31 January 2010.

Yes

31%

Yes, but only during work time.

10%

No, but it's frowned upon.

15%

42%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

The ABC wants its staff to mind their Ps and Qs when on the world wide web.

The public broadcaster has just released a new set of guidelines for employees using social media, including popular internet sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

While acknowledging the need for staff to use such social tools "to engage with new audiences", ABC managing director Mark Scott said it was important to set down rules for instances where private and work lives collide.

Fairfax and other international media outlets have laid down similar guidelines in an effort to keep a leash on potential online controversies.

US basketballers have been banned from twittering, while tennis players were dealt a "twitter warning" ahead of the US Open this year.

The ABC guidelines, sent via email to staff on Wednesday morning, set out four directives.

The first was not to mix the professional and the personal in ways likely to bring the company into disrepute.

Staff were also told not to let social media undermine their effectiveness at work, not to imply ABC endorsement of personal views and not to disclose any confidential information obtained through their job.

"We think that these guidelines will give our staff a framework in which to work, but allow for some flexibility as media continues to evolve and change," Mr Scott said.

"They encourage staff to take responsibility for their activity at the same time making it clear when the ABC's editorial policies do and do not apply."

One ABC employee said the guidelines were reasonable, noting that many Australian workplaces have banned such social interaction altogether.

"(The ABC) is being very accepting of the fact that people do use Facebook and Twitter and they're trying to work with us," she told AAP.

"I doubt any ABC employee would have a problem with abiding by the four standards."

The guidelines, which the ABC plans to enforce where necessary, come into effect on November 9.