Accountability and Transparency. Does it exist in today’s Social Media?

Social Media is viewed by many as the “new communications tool”.  Many of my colleagues at various levels of government are engaged to varying degrees, as are some municipalities and government organizations.  It’s good to see that the Town of Newmarket, Town of Aurora, and Regional Municipality of York signed on to Twitter and Facebook recently. 

I have been on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn for about 3 years now, hoping that it could be an effective tool to connect with our community.  For the most part is has been.  Unfortunately, there is also a destructive, mean-spirited side to the way some people use Social Media.

 Many of my colleagues are using Social Media cautiously, because of some of the vicious attacks and blogs they have been subjected to or have seen their colleagues subjected to, without recourse, correction or opportunity for rebuttal. Many times inaccurate comments or skewed perspectives, sometimes posted in error, but more often than not are a calculated effort to discredit, undermine or bully others. How do we deal with that?

Every method of communication has its shortcomings, but there has been at least some degree of accountability in the more traditional forms of communication, in the form of industry or association review boards or government regulatory reviews. But now with access to publish through social media via the internet, accountability through self-regulation falls onto the eye of the author.

As a result, as readers we find ourselves in the position of having  to develop our own critical assessment of what has been said, how it has been said, and our knowledge of the target of the blog or tweet.  

I encourage everyone who uses social media for information to evaluate what is being said for truthfulness, accuracy and fairness, and to seek out other sources of information to evaluate and verify not only the integrity of the information but also the integrity of the author.