BBC staff ordered to grasp social media

For a long time now internet users have been making good use of social networking and now it looks as if the BBC has just realised that social media is here to stay and therefore its staff must get involved.

The call is coming from the new director of BBC Global News, Peter Horrocks.

He wants the editorial staff to make better use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to help with establishing the background behind the news.

Twitter and RSS readers could become invaluable sources of material and a place where stories can be confirmed and therefore a better picture of what is actually going on at ground level can be established.

The BBC has always been distant from social media. It hardly got a mention in last year’s Editorial guidelines.