INTRODUCTION

As the world's leading source of intelligent information, we recognize that our employees actively participate in social media and online communications. These guidelines are designed to help protect the reputation and credibility of Thomson Reuters, our employees, and contractors who create or contribute to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds or other social media. Whether you use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yammer, Wikipedia or MySpace - or comment on blogs or online media stories - these guidelines are for you. They cover three main areas:

1. Basic principles for all types of social media
2. Special guidelines for professional use of social media on behalf of the company
3. Special guidelines for personal use of social media

BASIC PRINCIPLES

These principles apply to professional use of social media on behalf of our company as well as personal use.

• Adhere to our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and the Trust Principles.
• You are accountable for your actions and what you write and post.
• Use common sense and good judgment - your statements could have an impact on our company's reputation. Remember that what you post or publish may be public information for a long time.
• Be accurate, honest and genuine and take responsibility for your mistakes. A conversational, personal tone often works best - similar to how you'd speak. If you make a mistake, or someone questions a statement or claim you make, it's your responsibility to investigate it. If appropriate, you should quickly correct any mistakes or provide any necessary clarifications.
• Respect others in your posts and discussions. Social media networks and online communications shouldn't be used to attack or insult Thomson Reuters, fellow employees, customers, vendors, contractors, suppliers, competitors or others.
• Be sensible. Don't make posts or comments that may be considered defamatory, obscene, libelous, threatening, harassing or embarrassing to others. 
• Be transparent. If you're writing about Thomson Reuters or our industry, use your real name (not a pseudonym), identify that you work for Thomson Reuters, and be clear about your role. If you have a vested interest in what you're discussing, be the first to openly say so. 
• Disagree with another's opinion? Keep it appropriate and polite. If you find yourself in a situation that threatens to become antagonistic, refrain from becoming overly defensive and do not disengage from the conversation abruptly. Disengage from the dialogue in a polite manner and seek the advice of your Media Relations representative.
• If you're uncertain about whether to post or discuss something that's related to Thomson Reuters, seek the advice of your manager, Media Relations representative or another appropriate person at our company in advance. 
• Don't disclose any confidential, proprietary or sensitive information regarding Thomson Reuters, our employees, customers, vendors, contractors, suppliers, competitors or others. Often, internal communications shouldn't be forwarded outside of our company. If you're uncertain whether information is meant to be private or internal to Thomson Reuters, seek the advice of a Media Relations representative, a Thomson Reuters lawyer or your manager.
• Don't comment on our legal matters, stock price, financial performance, competitors, strategy or rumors unless you're specifically authorized to do so. Because Thomson Reuters is a publicly-traded company, it's critical that you avoid these topics unless you're an authorized company spokesperson.
• Refer media and press inquiries to our authorized company spokespersons. Social media networks, blogs and other types of online content sometimes generate press and media attention. If members of the media, including journalists or bloggers, contact you about a statement that you made that might be considered sensitive to Thomson Reuters or our business, please refer them to an appropriate Media Relations contact unless you've been authorized to respond or speak on behalf of our company.
• Obtain permissions if needed. Get appropriate permission before you refer to or post images of current or former employees, customers, vendors or suppliers by name. Additionally, get appropriate permission to use a third party's copyrights, copyrighted material, trademarks, service marks or other intellectual property.
• Minimize security risks. Social media sites and accounts can attract hackers and can present risks to corporate networks as well as your personal computer or mobile device. A compromised account can also cause disclosure concerns for our company. To minimize these risks, use a password for social media accounts that isn't easy to guess. Monitor your social media accounts periodically if you don't actively use them. Also, be mindful that social media sites sometimes are used to distribute malicious software or code, or "malware." If you think a link sent to you might be malware, don't click on it, as it could result in software or code being downloaded or installed on your own computer and/or our company networks.

SPECIAL GUIDELINES: PROFESSIONAL USE

• Obtain permission for official company use of social media. If you're interested in starting an official external Thomson Reuters-sponsored blog, website, podcast, account, page, group, etc. related to our business, products or services, send a written request to the social media representative that supports your business unit. Contact information is appended to these guidelines.
• Remember that you're representing the company in your posts and content. 
• Don't delete a comment just because you disagree with the commenter's point of view. Comments are an important part of the conversation we have on our blogs, and people will disagree with you. However, you can (and should) monitor user-generated content on our blogs and you may delete any comments that are offensive, are obviously spam with links to irrelevant blogs or websites, or are completely unrelated to the topic of the post.

SPECIAL GUIDELINES: PERSONAL USE

• Social media use shouldn't interfere with your responsibilities at Thomson Reuters. Our computer systems are to be used primarily for business purposes. While incidental personal use of our systems at work may be acceptable under certain circumstances, excessive use of our computer systems for social media networks, personal blogging or creating other types of online content could result in the company limiting your ability to engage in these activities during work time and/or taking disciplinary action. 
• If needed, clarify in a post or comment that you're expressing your own views and opinions and not those of our company. While this type of clarification probably won't be needed for most posts and comments, sometimes it will be important or necessary to distinguish between personal views and company views, depending on the topic. 
• Don't use the Thomson Reuters logo (or any of our business logos) on personal blogs, websites or other types of online content. 
• Don't host personal blogs, websites or other types of online content on property owned or leased by Thomson Reuters.

SUPPLEMENTAL BUSINESS UNIT GUIDELINES

Some Thomson Reuters business units have supplemental social media guidelines, application forms and resources, including the Reuters Handbook of Journalism for those in editorial or relevant media roles in our Markets division. These supplemental guidelines are accessible on our company's intranet site in the "Tools and Resources" section.

VIOLATIONS

If you violate these guidelines, we may require you to correct, edit or remove a post or statement. In addition, violations of these guidelines by employees can result in disciplinary action, including termination of employment.

Effective August 4, 2010