I was approached after one of the sessions last week at EMS World Expo by someone wanting to know if there was some sort of “Social Media Protocol“. Immediately my mind flashed back to a post from Steve Whitehead on something developed for EMS way back when considered to be the “Ultimate EMS Protocol” – STARCARE.
Here is how I would apply that protocol (with some minor tweaks) to blogging and Social Media -
- Safe - is the information I am about to relay safe from compromising operations and safe from disclosing confidential information?
- Team-based - is the information I am about to broadcast created with the consideration for the opinions and feelings of others in mind?
- Attentive to community needs - am I doing this for a positive outcome? Am I doing this because I care? Is this something the community will find value in?
- Respectful - have I approached my subjects, my peers, others within my industry and the public with the same level of respect as I would want to receive?
- Community accountable - if I was in a room with my fellow EMS bloggers could I honestly without hesitation say to them that I did the best I could to represent us? Have I over promised and under delivered?
- Appropriate - is my content appropriate medically, technically, professionally, legally, and practically?
- Reasonable - does my content make sense when looking at it with no previous knowledge of the specifics?
- Ethical - is my content fair, honest, and not influenced by outside forces? Have I answered these questions honestly?
Of course, as with how I think all protocols should be interpreted, these are guidelines. There is no substitute for good social sense.
Related Posts:
This is great Dave. In the context of blogging, I think we could squeeze in a few more. I’d love to see this catch on. In the “Ethical” category – “Am I honoring copyright standards, properly attributing ideas that influenced my post and linking to original source material?” In the “Appropriate” category we could mention, – “Is this information accurate to the best of my knowledge? Have I attempted to confirm its accuracy before posting it?” In “Team Based you might consider adding, – “Do I believe this information is truly useful to my readers or a greater audience?” Great idea. Thanks for keeping STAR CARE alive.
In regards to the team-based category, I disagree to a point about needing to take into account the feelings and opinions of other providers. Certainly, every post should be written with good taste and be tactful, however just as you need to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, you sometimes have to get people mad (as hell, so they’re not gonna take it anymore). If we care about not upsetting anyone, ever, then no progress will ever be made.