According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, "Social Media" is defined as: "forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)."
Social Networking, through the various forms of Social Media, makes it so that each individual is able to electronically present him or herself in a way that he or she believes will be most impressive to employers and colleagues, and also in a way that he or she believes is the most genuine and honest (though this is not always the case).
As a journalism major, I am very much internally conflicted when it comes to what types of things I am "allowed" to say (well, write) on the internet. The article "the Ethics of Social Networking for Journalists," written by Estrella Gutiérrez and published in IPSnews.net, explores the "right" and "wrong" of social networking as a journalist.
The article can accessed by clicking the following link:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54277
This article is very interesting because it conveys the idea that journalists need to be careful about what they write, because journalism is a field in which objectivity is key. Bias in journalism is absolutely and completely taboo. Mediums such as Twitter, however (as opposed to newspapers and news broadcasts), do not require objectivity when it comes to the general public. Should a journalist be required to be objective about issues on such networking sites as Twitter as well?
A journalist must also be careful of how he or she portrays him/herself through his/her published writing. If an informal writing piece is published which causes the public to look badly upon the writer, who normally writes objective news for newspapers, for example, the journalist may be in trouble. The larger issue, however, is how situations such as these will affect the field of journalism in general, and the field's credibility as a whole.
There is a thin line between what is appropriate for a journalist to write, and what is potentially detrimental to the industry. Oftentimes, a journalist needs to decide whether or not to publish something that would benefit him/herself as an individual, but would not benefit the industry, and would affect its credibility.