AP's New Rules That Could Get You Unfollowed

We all know The Associated Press can be a little opinionated when it comes to the specifics of writing but most recently (and true-to-form) AP comprised a list of 42 new guidelines to police social media.

Browsing through the rules I notice the AP attempting to create a rigid structure in an audience specific industry. Social media is different animal complete with different rules. The rules are that there are no rules. Each outlet is specified complete with its own unique voice. Unfortunately the guidelines hinder the specific voice that the author of the outlet uses in order to connect to their audience.

While uniformity is organized and appreciated among most, the AP's new guidelines take away from giving your favorite social media outlet a unique voice. Not only will this get you defriended or unfollowed (AP approved words) this may also lead to your audience feeling uncomfortable in answering your comments or posts due to your professional tone.

As long as glaring grammatical errors are not present and the authors voice is consist it is my opinion that while these guidelines provide a uniformity it constructs the voice of the brand or organization and in result hinders on the ability for the brand to connect with its audience.