It’s hard to forget the controversial Twitter policy implemented by the Washington Post in fall 2009. I was teaching a class on Twitter and journalism at the time at DePaul University, and it was the perfect fodder for discussion.
And now, one year later, there’s this.
Essentially, a Washington Post editor has released a memo to its employees stating they can’t engage with users who are critical of WaPo. The request, apparently prompted by a specific tweet on the company’s main account, applies to any branded WaPo account. Furthermore, it’s stated that personal accounts cannot be used to represent the company.
Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) has a great response to this story, which he cleverly titles, “Hey Washington Post - It’s Called Social Media.” Vadim Lavrusik (@lavrusik) also has a good post addressing this over at Mashable.
I have friends at WaPo (hello, @kzaleski and @katierogers), I really admire them and the organization as a whole has made huge strides in social media. That’s what makes stories like this so disheartening. It seems as though every time WaPo takes a step forward, it takes steps back not long after.
