- This was our first tweet from @Poynter:
AP issues retweet guidelines to staff: journ.us/s1kbmE No personal opinions are allowed or implied; 'we’re simply reporting it'- What followed was a lot of criticism. Many people argued that the AP guidelines suggest a using a confusing style that puts the "RT" at the very beginning, separated from the username. Like this:
RT Jones campaign now denouncing smith on education: @jonescampaign smith’s policies would destroy our schools 
Setting aside whether the AP's new Twitter guidelines are dumb or not, who places the "RT" where the AP suggests? bit.ly/t1vp0n
Associated Press does a two-fer -- maintains the dumb "no opinions" policy and gets retweet etiquette wrong: is.gd/k1vCXM- AP's Standards Editor Tom Kent did respond to that on Twitter, saying he was OK with doing retweets the other way.
Some saying "RT" belongs after comment of the RT'er, not before. We're OK with either if meaning is clear bit.ly/tOV4l9- Others implied that the new guidelines were too restrictive.
We'd like to bid adieu to all the cool AP staffers in the Twin Cities on Twitter... see.sc/DeIA7w
AP to staff: Don't retweet anything with an opinion. bit.ly/rKbgDE Good luck with that.- AP spokesman Paul Colford said the agency doesn't prohibit retweeting opinions, it just wants its journalists to be clear about attributing the opinion to the source.
- And a few people decided to follow the spirit of the guidelines in their own retweets:
I am sharing this with absolutely no concern with whether or not you think I'm endorsing the AP policy. :) poynter.org/latest-news/ro… via @AddThis
This doesn't constitute endorsement. MT @davidjoachim: AP issues staff guidelines on retweets; no ‘personal opinions’: bit.ly/v2LvBb
I pass this link along without expressing an opinion one way or another: poynter.org/latest-news/ro…
Some have called it hilarious, I report. RT @carr2n: AP to staff: Don't retweet anything with an opinion. bit.ly/rKbgDE
great/terrible policy I don't think RT @carr2n: AP to staff: Don't retweet anything with an opinion bit.ly/rKbgDE Good luck with that
jeffsonderman
Jeff Sonderman
Work: Digital Media Fellow at The Poynter Institute. I tweet mobile/social journalism, technology.
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