Matthew “producermatthew” Keys shares his different experiences building his own social media presence while working at an ABC station and now at Reuters, which he recently joined as a social media editor.

I’m thankful Matthew is saying openly what many journalists experience: It can be a struggle to explain the mindset of the social web to some colleagues and bosses with a more traditional approach. But allowing journalists to let their own personality shine through is beneficial not only to them but also to the company.

From the blog entry:

There were several behind-closed-door discussions and back-and-forth emails about my Twitter methods, the sort of language I’d use in certain tweets, the frequency at which tweets went out and whether or not it was acceptable to mention or tweet competitors.

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I’ve seen several colleagues tweet things at Reuters that would never be allowed at KGO and would be frowned upon by the higher-ups at Disney-ABC, but this company recognizes that a little heartburn is expected now and then with the trade-off of allowing your people to be people — with personalities, opinions and thoughts.