BBC's social media standpoint "misguided"

The BBC’s decision to mandate the use of social media by journalists has been branded as "misguided" by an expert, not least because user numbers are relatively small and represent a skewed demographic.

According to the Guardian newspaper, Peter Horrocks, the new director of BBC Global News, who took over the post last week, has told staff that they must now use social media such as Twitter and RSS feeds as a primary source of information and become more collaborative in the way that they write stories.

Horrocks said in the BBC’s in-house weekly publication, Ariel, that: "This isn’t some kind of fad from someone who’s an enthusiast of technology. I’m afraid you’re not doing your job if you can’t do those things. It’s not discretionary."

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