PRos in Training

We talk about transparency a lot in social media (in public relations, too, for that matter). But what does that mean if you’re a blogger? And particulary, if you’re a new blogger.

According to Paul Gillin‘s book The New Influencers, “transparency is about a lot more than just not lying. It’s about opening yourself up to inspection, analysis, judgement, praise and ridicule.”

Gulp.

That sounds a little frightening. But the blogging community has, over time, worked out some standards and guidelines that are not that difficult to follow and understand.

When you get down to the nuts and bolts, transparency in the blogosphere means adhering to these community standards. Some basic rules:

• Be familiar with the basics of copyright and fair use limitations. It’s important that you don’t plagiarize content (just link to the source!) or present others ideas as your own.
• Your posts should be well researched and complete, try to avoid sweeping generalizations and jumping to hasty conclusions. Honestly, this is the biggest mistake I see new bloggers, and students in general, make in their writing. You can have opinions, even strong ones (please do!), but make sure your opinions are well-founded and you build a foundation on which to stake your claims.
• Once you’ve pushed “publish,” don’t edit your post. If you need to make a change, do a strikethough the old information and insert the new. It is worth noting, however, that a strikethough doesn’t always mean that the author has made a change, sometimes it’s done humorously. (exception: you can correct typos if you need to, but don’t change anything that alters the post’s content)
• If you need to make major revisions to your original, leave a comment on your post as a way of public correction.
• Deleting a post is considered a major no-no. The only time this might be an option is if you think the post might result in harm to someone or could be seriously misleading.

Consider adopting a codes of ethics for your blog (either formally included on your site, or informally for you to know and abide by – I recommend the former). This example from Charlene Li has laid the groundwork for many ethics policies including the GM Fastlane blog.

• I will tell the truth.
• I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
• I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
• I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
• I will never delete a post.
• I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
• I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly.
• I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking.
• I will stay on topic.
• I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
• I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
• I will disclose conflicts of interest.
• I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardize my personal and work relationships.

What guidelines or standards have you seen, or do you recommend for bloggers? I know I’ve missed some of the deeper/more nuanced aspects of transparency and ethics, but anything I’ve missed here on the basics?