Media atwitter over new media

First off, I apologize for that outrageous pun in the heading. I couldn't resist. Anyway, newspapers are all over the place in laying down rules for new media like Facebook and Twitter, reflecting the vast uncertainty many of them feel about social media. (I'm not sure some of them have a clue about social media; they sure don't act like it.) Guidelines range from very strict "thou shalt not 'friend' a source" to "keep it loose and conversational." My personal belief is that ethics rules really should rule. For example, I don't "friend" students until they graduate and ask. Seems to me that professional relationships should also be fairly easy to establish.