Anyone who has been in the public relations field for any length of time has used the AP Stylebook to help them at least try to look literate. For those novices a little background -
The Stylebook was first produced in 1953 as a stapled collection of rules totaling 60 pages, and has grown to a publication of more than 450 pages today. The book’s creation was prompted in part by a technical change in the way the AP transmitted news as well as a need for consistency among a worldwide editorial staff that produced stories for newspapers with a variety of style preferences. There have been major periodic revisions over the past few decades, the last in 2008, and the print edition is now updated annually.
The new AP Stylebook in hot off the presses and contains no less then 42 new social media guidelines.
The new Social Media Guidelines section includes information and policies on using tools like Facebook and Twitter, how journalists can apply them to their work and how to verify sources found through them. Also included are 42 separate entries on such terms as app, blogs, click-throughs, friend and unfriend, metadata, RSS, search engine optimization, smart phone, trending, widget and wiki.”
I just looked at a copy of the 2008 style guide I have in my office and it’s totally amazing how the media world has changed in a short 2 year span.
For more info on the new 2010 AP Stylebook go to https://www.apstylebook.com/
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Twitter in the Snow – January 3, 2011
- Some Simplistic thoughts on Social Media – December 17, 2010
So is website officially one word now, lower case? I’ve been fighting that battle for a long, long time. Have I officially lost?
website is officially one word now, lowercase.