(Image Credit: Mashable’s Tribute to Boston Marathon)

Wise words were once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”  However with great power using social media comes the need to be first, famous, and the belief that you are something that you are not…a credible source.

There is no denying the power of social media and the connections it has developed for millions of people around the world or the impact it has on information dissemination.  TheCommunityManager.com is dedicated to what the power of online communities can do with tools like social media and the digital word. However, this week will go down as a poor example of what can be done using these tools for journalism, and the detriment they can cause to matters of life and death and the pursuit of justice.

We could discuss the social media woes of the companies that lost their minds this week (Epicurious, we’re looking at you). Or the companies that were respectful and shut down their regularly scheduled social media programming (AOL, nice job).     

Instead, today we talk about our personal responsibilities and the need to show restraint.

Social media has enabled the average person to assume the role of journalist.  In recent years we’ve heard more and more of this term, “Citizen Journalist.”  It’s so new, there are conflicting descriptions of what it is and does, but to put it simply when people that previously found themselves as the audience are attempting to participate in the collection of information, the analyzation of information, or the dissemination of information that comes from sources that may or may not be legitimate, they assume this role of citizen journalist.  An amateur, if you will. Someone that found themselves in the right place at the right time with potential information to aid in the piecing together of a situation or event.  Whether this is a good or bad thing is almost determined on a case by case basis.  However we must be very careful to not confuse this with actual journalism.  Journalists undergo a significant amount of training to do their absolute best in being objective, to find trusted sources, and to disseminate their findings clearly at the right time that will cause the least amount of confusion, chaos, and fear.  And yes, when the time is right in modern day they will take to social media tools for the greater public good. Quality & accuracy comes first, breaking the news comes second.

In the case of this week in Boston we were asked, as the public often is, to send in tips to aid investigators.  But we as the public took it a whole new level and by the end of this week, have seen authorities specifically ask people to stop.

Stop trying to actively go out of your way to be citizen journalists (note, not stop sending pertinent info, just stop looking for trouble). Stop using social media in the most terrible of ways such as creating fake twitter accounts of the suspects, or coming up with your own suspects to wrongly accuse the innocent.  Stop reporting on everything the police are doing and investigating because you’re hurting real investigations.  Patience is a virtue, bravado is not.  Citizen Journalism is not about speculation and using social media to make that speculation go viral capitalizing on a collective fear. Now more than ever we need to exercise judgement, restraint, and utilize critical thinking.  And this doesn’t just go for the average person, it goes for journalists who keep speculating and guessing too.

Are you 100% sure that thing you’re retweeting, that thread you’re adding to, or that news blast is from the most credible source it possibly can be?   No?  Don’t do it. Observe restraint.

Use your social media power for good, not evil (or speculation).