Social media

Social media have provided new ways of communicating and the services are often characterised by great freedom and openness. This openness allows everyone to express their views and can give a voice to those who are otherwise not heard in society. But openness also sets some challenges. How much of your private life are you happy to share with others? What do you want other people to know about you and what can you publish about others? How should we behave towards each other?

Editorial responsibility

All newspapers have an editor who is responsible for the material that the newspaper prints or publishes, whether pictures or text. Deliberate lies, slander, unlawful images or racism can cause great harm and lead to fines or imprisonment. The media have also adopted a set of ethical guidelines that journalists and editors shall comply with, the so-called “Vær varsom-plakaten”.

In the same way that a newspaper editor is responsible for the information in the newspaper, you are responsible for the information you post online. If you have a blog or a profile on a social network, you are the editor of the pictures and texts you publish. And as editor you have a responsibility for what you are allowed to publish about others, and you are also responsible for what you should and should not publish. Something that might seem OK to you to publish, might not seem OK to someone else. You also have a certain responsibility to monitor, and perhaps remove, information that others post in the comments section of your blog or website if the information is offensive.

Take control

It is easy to create a profile on a social networking site, but many do not consider the fact that the privacy settings often have been configured to allow full access to your profile. You should remember that if you have not actively changed the settings, it is very likely that people other than your friends can see your pictures and profile. Some social networking sites also change the privacy settings regularly without informing the users. That means that information you think is hidden, might actually be open to anyone. Therefore it is very important to check your privacy settings regularly. In addition, parts of your profile are public and searchable regardless of your privacy settings.

If you post a picture, everyone with access to your profile can store the picture and share it with others. For this reason it is important to think about who you think should be able to see what you publish and change your settings to reflect this. Perhaps it is better to create a closed group where you can share pictures instead of posting them under your profile? However, it is important to remember that even if you publish something on a restricted site, other people within the group can download the information and share it with others, totally out of your control. You should always be critical about what you share with others, so that the information does not end up somewhere you don't want it to be.

Online debate

Freedom of speech is important. All channels have their pros and cons and the message reaches its audience by different media. But when discussions and debates take place online, something changes. No one stops you from writing what you want and the response from others can be immediate. The Internet also lowers the threshold for participation significantly. It is easy to share your own views, comment on things that others write and produce your own content with images, text or videos. This makes it easy to get involved, whether it is liking something on Instagram or Facebook or participating in events advertised on social media.

Many people have hobbies or subjects they are interested in and there are online fora and groups where you can meet other like-minded people. Discussions are rife, your involvement increases and you respond to the others immediately. But you can't see their reactions and when you are writing short statements it can be difficult to express the correct meaning. Therefore it can be a good idea to consider how other people would perceive what you write - are you angry or just involved?

Anonymity - a mixed blessing

When you use social media, it is easy to discuss with others and comment on their content. It varies from site to site whether users use their own names or nicknames (pseudonyms). When you are anonymous it may be easier to write things that you would not say to someone face to face than it would be if you were using your real name. It is also possible to pretend to be someone else. So how is this relevant for online debate?

Some subjects can be difficult to discuss properly online. In many places discussions about issues that are important to our society, including immigration, climate, equality and religion, are leading to problems and misunderstandings. Can you think of some subjects that might be more difficult to debate online than others?

You have editorial responsibility for what you publish online. This is an important responsibility - use it wisely!