Why I quit those Facebook Groups

This post is mostly for those of you familiar with the social networking tool Facebook but the issues I’m wrestling with will likely make sense for anyone interested in issues of journalism and ethics. This is also for some of my Facebook Friends who noticed today that I quit several Facebook Groups and wondered why I quit them.

Let me quickly say — no pressure was to brought to bear on my by anyone at CTV to quit these Groups. I decided on my own to quit them although I’m pleased to say there was a great discussion at our bureau today about the value of Facebook and these Groups and the input I received from some of my colleagues helped me with come to the decision I did.

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for Facebook. The basic concept of Facebook is that you will establish a network of “Friends”. You and your Facebook Friend (FF from here on out) must agree to be friends. So, for example, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a Facebook account and, when I signed up, I sent him a note through the service asking to be his FF. It took a while but eventually he (or, most likely, the staff member at the PMO who monitors these things on behalf of the PM) agreed to be my FF. So what does that mean? Well, it certainly doesn’t mean that Stephen Harper and I are friends in the offline sense of the word. We don’t go to  the mall together. We don’t phone each other up late at night to kvetch about our wives. We don’t borrow each other’s gardening implements.

What it does mean, though, is that I can “see” Stephen Harper’s Facebook profile and I will be notified on my own Facebook feed about activities he’s involved in. So, if Harper puts up a new photo of himself, I will see that he has done that back on my own Facebook page and, if I’m so inclined, it represents a cue for me to visit his page and check out his photo. Conversely when I do something on Facebook — I change my Facebook status several times a day, for example — Harper will be tipped to that fact back on his page.

Importantly, Harper and I know each other. We have an offline relationship. I’m a reporter; he’s the Prime Minister. You get the point.

One of the reasons I wanted to be Harper’s FF was so that I could see who Harper’s other FFs were. I’m a nosy parker by profession and it’s my job to find out what his supporters and colleagues in the Conservative party are thinking about. So here was a good chance to invite myself to a virtual party where most (I suspect) are people who either are or would like to be Harper’s real offline friend. Now, the flipside of this is that all of these people at this virtual party of Harper’s friends can also see that I, too, have listed myself as Harper’s “Friend”.  So, here I am, a journalist who is paid to provide independent, non-aligned and occasionaly sceptical reports on the Prime Minister and yet, here I am, on a list of his “Friends”.

Well, here’s the thing: I am also Stephane Dion’s FF and Jack Layton’s FF and Elizabeth May’s FF. (I don’t think Gilles Duceppe is yet a Facebook member).

Professionally, I see great value in being the FFs of these political players because it means, as their FFs, I will be able to see who their other FFs are; get notified about their activies in Facebook-land and so on. Remember — unless you are someone’s FF, you are shut out from their Facebook life; you will not be able to see the Facebook activities of anyone who is not your FF.

Now I hope that most people in Facebook land would eventually figure out, by reviewing my FF list that I am the FF of Conservatives, Liberals, NDPers, and Greens (but, oddly, no separatists …) and, as I am very clear in my Facebook profile that I am a Parliament Hill reporter, they might put two and two together and correctly guess that our Facebook Friendship is really a professional relationship — the relationship of Reporter to Reported On.

In case it’s not clear, let me be perfectly straightforward right here: While I accept all requests to be Facebook Friends, my acceptance does not mean I endorse or favour the political views or activities of my FFs. They are my FFs because they are interesting actors in the drama I am paid to watch and report on.

Now I say all this after having been on Facebook for all of about two weeks. This is still an experiment for me (and, as it turns out, for many of my colleagues in our Parliamentary Bureau who, intrigued with the gossipy promise of Facebook, have signed up). So what I’ve just written amounts to an early assessment of the Facebook territory after mucking around in it for a little bit.

Which brings me to Facebook Groups …

Any Facebook member can create a “Group”. Other Facebook members can join the group and members of the group can invited Facebook members to join the Group. These Groups can be set up for a whole host of reasons but the political class in Ottawa have quickly realized that these could be powerful tools to mobilize and organize geographically disparate individuals. So there is a “Group” for Liberals, a group for Greens, a group for Conservatives and so on. The Facebook page for these groups usually includes a discussion area where group members can trade information or gossip about something other group members would be interested; there is often a calendar of events; and there might be photos that are of interest to the group. For me, a political reporter, this seems like a great place to connect with the so-called grassroots of any one political movement. And so I’ve joined the Liberal group and the Conservative group and so on. Again, I hope that most Facebook types will be sophisticated enough to figure out that I join these groups not to endorse them or to help them achive their political ends but to — and let’s be frank here — to spy on them! The more extra stuff I can learn about the activities of Liberals and Conservatives and NDPers, the better a reporter I can be.

But today, I decided, after much discussion with my colleagues, that there is a class of groups on Facebook I ought not to belong to. These are the “Elect so-and-so in Duntroon North” type of groups. I had initially signed up, for example,  for the group trying to get Elizabeth May elected in Central Nova but I was also a member of the group trying to get Peter MacKay elected in Central Nova. Again — my motive for joining these groups was purely professional. It was the online equivalent of me attending a fundraising rally in New Glasgow, N.S. for May. I would attend to observe, report, and learn. I would not attend to help her campaign or to raise money.

But while it’s easy for a reporter at a real-world political rally to clearly remain apart from the partisan activity and, perhaps more importantly, to be seen to be separate from the partisan activity, I don’t believe it’s so easy for that perception to exist in Facebook world. Why is that? Well, let’s go back to Facebook’s basic architecture. Remember, all those who Stephen Harper’s FFs can get a list of all of Harper’s FFs. I will be on that list but I will be slightly out of context. You won’t know by looking at Stephen Harper’s list of FFs that I am also the FF of Dion, Layton, and May — Harper’s political opponents. Only if you
clickthrough on my name will you see on my Facebook page that I am the FF of Harper’s political opponents. 

Now, if you don’t click through on my name, there is a risk you end up assuming that, not only am I Harper’s FF but am also his offline friend and may even support his political agenda.  But I believe that risk is small and, in any event, the potential benefits of being Harper’s FF and being able to spy on him in Facebook-world outweigh that risk.

Similarly, the members of a Facebook Group can see who else is a member of that Facebook Group. So, all those who are members of the Group, “Elect Elizabeth May in Central Nova” can see that I am a member of that group. Again, there is a risk that, unless someone clicks through on my name where it will be plainly evident that I sign up for all sort of political groups, there is the risk that someone might assume I am genuinely in favour of electing Elizabeth May in Central. As a reporter, of course, it is in my professional interest to remain disinterested in the outcome in Central Nova. And I worry that, in the case of groups like these, because the group is so overtly political, the benefit of remaining a group member  are not greater than the risks of me being perceived as endorsing any one candidate.

And that’s why I quit the Facebook Groups that I quit today.

Thanks, by the way, for getting all the way to the end of this long post. As I mentioned, earlier, these are still new issues for reporters and I’d be most grateful for your feedback.