Learning by Doing

Abstract

This paper investigates journalistic social media use from the perspective of the media organization. Specifically, we examine how media professionals working within Norwegian news organizations perceive social media guidelines by focusing on three empirical areas—assessing perceptions of scope, form and content. Data are collected and analyzed by means of a mixed-method approach. First, we provide results from a large-scale survey of Norwegian editors and journalists. Second, the article details insights from 14 qualitative elite interviews with editors-in-chief, working in leading news organizations in the context studied. The study shows that while the use of social media presents new dilemmas for the organizations, the main goal is to allow journalists to utilize them rather than to restrict their use. While guidelines are mostly present, they appear as subordinate to other, more informal methods of control. The relaxed approach identified leads to experimenting when new technology is introduced, and seems sensible in a rapidly changing technological environment. At the same time, pressure increases on the individual journalists who have to find their way in a field of work that grows ever more complex.