I cre­ated a Social Media Basel Group on Face­book and I con­sider very impor­tant to post the Man­i­festo of the group, which could be con­sid­ered a sort of Best Prac­tices and Terms and Con­di­tions to be part of the group. 

One of the scope of this group is to pass on the social media cul­ture, to share the cul­ture itself and what­ever infor­ma­tion rel­e­vant to the scope. Events, work­shops, con­fer­ences or what­ever peo­ple fancy to organ­ise will be sup­ported by the group. 

Mem­bers are invited to do that and to respect the code of ethics writ­ten by J. Dube which is what can be con­sid­ered a man­i­festo for this group. 

The fol­low­ing is the Blogger’s Code of Ethics by Jonathan Dube you can find in the book: “Online Jour­nal­ism Ethics, Tra­di­tions and Tran­si­tions”, Cecilia Friend and Jane B.Singer: 

“The Blog­gers’ Code of Ethics was writ­ten by Jonathan Dube, an award-winning print and online jour­nal­ist and now edi­to­r­ial direc­tor for the Cana­dian Broad­cast Co.‘s Web site, CBS.cs. 

Dube posted the code, mod­eled on the Soci­ety of Pro­fes­sional Jour­nal­ists Code of Ethics, on his own web­site Cyberjournalist.net in April 2003.
His web­site is a news and resource site that focuses on how the inter­net con­ver­gence and new tech­nolo­gies are chang­ing the media.” 

BLOGGERS’ CODE OF ETHICS 

1) BE HONEST AND FAIR 

Blog­gers should be hon­est and fair in gath­er­ing, report­ing and inter­pret­ing infor­ma­tion. Blog­gers should: 

a) Never plagiarize 

b) Iden­tify and link to sources when­ever fea­si­ble. The pub­lic is enti­tled to as much infor­ma­tion as pos­si­ble on sources’ reliability. 

c) Make cer­tain that Weblog entries, quo­ta­tions, head­lines, pho­tos and all other con­tent do not mis­rep­re­sent.
They should not over­sim­plify or high­light inci­dents out of context. 

d) Never dis­tort the con­tent of pho­tos with­out dis­clos­ing what has been changed. Image enhance­ments is only accept­able for tech­ni­cal clar­ity. Label mon­tages and photo illustrations. 

e) Never pub­lish Infor­ma­tion they know is inac­cu­rate — and if pub­lish­ing ques­tion­able infor­ma­tion, make it clear it’s in doubt. 

f) Dis­tin­guish between advo­cacy, com­men­tary and fac­tual infor­ma­tion. Even advo­cacy writ­ing and com­men­tary should not mis­rep­re­sent fact or context. 

g) Dis­tin­guish fac­tual infor­ma­tion and com­men­tary from adver­tis­ing and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two. 

2) MINIMISE HARM 

Eth­i­cal blog­gers treat sources and sub­jects as human beings deserv­ing of respect. Blog­gers should: 

a) Show com­pas­sion for those who may be affected adversely by Weblog con­tent. Use spe­cial sen­si­tiv­ity when deal­ing with chil­dren and inex­pe­ri­enced sources or subjects. 

b) Be sen­si­tive when seek­ing or using inter­views or pho­tographs of those affected by tragedy or grief. 

c) Recog­nise that gath­er­ing and report­ing infor­ma­tion may cause harm or dis­com­fort. Pur­suit of infor­ma­tion is not a license for arrogance. 

d) Recog­nise that pri­vate peo­ple have a greater right to con­trol infor­ma­tion about them­selves than do pub­lic offi­cials and oth­ers who seek power, influ­ence or atten­tion. Only an over­rid­ing pub­lic need can jus­tify intru­sion into anyone’s privacy. 

e) Show good taste. Avoid pan­der­ing to lurid curiosity. 

f) Be cau­tious about iden­ti­fy­ing juve­nile sus­pects, vic­tims of sex crimes and crim­i­nal sus­pects before the for­mal fil­ing of charges. 

3) BE ACCOUNTABLE 

Blog­gers should: 

a) Admit mis­takes and cor­rect them promptly. 

b) Explain each Weblog’s mis­sion and invite dia­logue with the pub­lic over its con­tent and the blog­gers’ conduct. 

c) Dis­close con­flicts of inter­est, affil­i­a­tions, activ­i­ties and per­sonal agendas. 

d) Deny favored treat­ment to adver­tis­ers and spe­cial inter­ests and resist their pres­sure to influ­ence con­tent. When excep­tions are made dis­close them fully to readers. 

e) Be wary of sources offer­ing infor­ma­tion for favors. When accept­ing such infor­ma­tion, dis­close the favors. 

f) Expose uneth­i­cal prac­tices of other bloggers. 

g) Abide by the same high stan­dards to which they hold others. 

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