How to write on social media Amnesty style

Use a personal and social tone of voice, like us, we or Amnesty. General rule-of-thumb is to use ‘Amnesty International‘ in the first instance of long copy, and ‘Amnesty’ thereafter.

Please do not use ‘Amnesty International Australia‘.

When using acronyms and initials, always type out the full name in the first instance, with the abbreviation in brackets, then use the shortened form thereafter. For example, “The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is a” … “if you want to find out more about the ILO” …

Please do not use acronyms and initials in the first instance, like “ILO just called a general strike”. Some people may not know what “ILO” is.

There are commonly accepted abbreviations, acronyms and initial-isms that you don’t need to spell out in full. These are:
• e.g.
• i.e.
• etc
• HIV
• AIDS
• RSVP
• UN
• UK
• US
• Qantas
• weights and measurements – kg, mm etc

Please do not use acronyms and initialisms for slang words and terms. For example:
• BC (because)
• BTW (by the way)
• FB (Facebook)
• TBH (to be honest)
• PNL (peace and love)
• PPL (people)

If each item is only one or a few words, only use punctuation after the last item. For example:
Assistance is available in several forms:
monetary assistance
equipment modifications
advisory services.

If each item is made up of one or more sentences, use a full stop at the end of each item. For example:
The committee came to two important conclusions:
1. Research should be funded in the three priority areas.
2. Officers should develop guidelines for future investigations.

Please do not give each point initial caps. For example:
Assistance is available in several forms:
Monetary assistance
Equipment modifications
Advisory services.

A person’s sex and which is their first or last name is not always clear. Use the person’s full name and title in the first instance, then if their gender or name order is known, use their first name or title and surname. For example:
John
Hakeem
Professor Jones
Minister Yusuf

Please do not refer to people by a nickname or abbreviate their name. For example:
Johnny
Hakm
Professor Jonesey
Minister Y

Always capitalise proper names of things and proper titles. For example:
Australian Government Minister for Immigration
Baker Street
Refugee Convention
University of Queensland
Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Oxfam

Always capitalise:
Indigenous people / Peoples Aboriginal person
Italian etc

Please do not capitalise general reference to things and titles. For example:
The government
The minister
The street
The convention
The university
The organisation

Exceptions to this rule are heads of state:
The Prime Minister
The President
The Queen

Keep headings short – three to four words, no more than six. Add a sub-heading to provide explanation if needed. For example:
End Censorship (heading)
End internet repression in China (sub-heading)

Write headings and sub-headings in sentence case with no full stop. For example:
Help Afghan women fight for their rights
Stop violence against women
Find out about our campaign plans

Use only single quotation marks in headlines and sub-heads. For example: Confronting the ‘war on terror’

Please don’t try to say everything in the heading. For example:
End Internet Censorship and Repression in China

Please don’t capitalise very word in the heading. For example:
Find out About our Campaign Plans

Words longer than three letters in titles need to be capitalised. For example:
Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Constitution of Australia

Please do not capitalise general references. For example:
The new constitution
The article
The convention

Titles of publications like films, books, newspapers, albums, TV and radio shows, and journals are written in title case and in italics. Specific articles in publications, TV and radio shows are in sentence case and single quotation marks. For example:
The Australian article, ‘Refugees left in the cold’.
ABC TV’s program The 7.30 Report showed a segment, ‘Refugees in detention’.
Scholarly Journal, Vol 2, February 2013, ‘The dilemma facing persecuted minorities in Egypt’.
‘Chimes of freedom’ is a song that features on Bob Dylan’s album, Another Side of Bob Dylan.

Please do not use double quotation marks in article titles. For example:
The Australian article, “Refugees left in the cold”.

Numbers one through to nine should be written in full. Numbers 10 and above must be written numerically. For example:
There were nine axolotls.
There were 20 axolotls.

There are some instances where words or numerals are always required. Generally, use words for numbers that:
• start a sentence e.g. Twenty axolotls escaped, 10 remained.
• are part of a proper name e.g. Let’s go to the 7-Eleven.
• are ordinal numbers e.g. fourth not 4th.

Numbers that are four digits or longer are in three-digit groups with commas. For example:
250,000

Millions spelled out, with a preceding numeral. For example:
Amnesty International’s 7 million supporters

Spans of numbers should be separated with an un-spaced en dash (not a hyphen or an em dash). For example:
5 billion–6 billion

Please do not write all numbers numerically. For example:
9 axolotls

The only correct way to write a date is:
4 June 2013

Spans of years can be written like:
12–14 years

Sets of years do not need apostrophes. For example:
1900s

Please do not write dates in the US format. For example:
June 4, 2013

Use numerals with abbreviations for weights and measurements, and add a space between the number and the measure. For example:
• 14mm, 12cm, 5m, 8km, 12g, 10kg, 80km/h
• 30°C (or 30 degrees for an Australian audience)
• tonne
• 2.5 miles
• US$6
• 5 million

Please do not use US names for measurements. For example:
• ton
• #
• ft

Generally, all times should be written numerically. For example:
The flight is three hours
30-minute drive
Thirty minutes drive (at the start of a sentence)
3.5 hours drive (numerals in fractions)
2 hrs 5 mins (in tables)

Remember to write times in the Australian format. For example:
7pm or 7.30pm

Please do not write times alphabetically. For example:
one pm

Please don’t write times in the US format. For example:
19:00 or 19:30

When writing about money, dollar figures should be preceded by the relevant currency ‘$’. For example:
US$ for US dollars
A$ for Australian dollars

Currencies other than dollars need to be written in word form. For example: 20,000 rupees
20 euros

Amounts greater than 999 need a comma after each group of three figures. For example:
$12,000

Please do not add ‘.00’ for full dollar amounts. For example:
A$6.00

Please do not refer to large amounts of money in the same way as numbers. For example:
A$6 million

The term ‘per cent’ is two words (not percent). When writing percentages, the % symbol should only be used in headings, documents full of figures, or a table. Always use numerals for percentages, even for figures below 9, except at the beginning of a sentence. For example:
Only 30 per cent of people can flare their nostrils
Ninety per cent of us rely on alarm clocks to wake up

Please do not use a percentage in the beginning of a heading. For example:
36% of adults don’t drink milk

Phone numbers need to written without brackets around the area code. For example:
02 9217 7663 (in Australia)
+61 2 9217 7663 (international)

Please do not use the full area code in international numbers. For example:
+61 02 9217 7663

Ampersand (&)
Only use when referring to registered trading and service names.

Ampersand (&)
Please don’t use the & symbol to replace the word ‘and’ (even on Twitter).

Colons (:)
Only use when introducing lists (see lists above for examples) and in titles to introduce sub-clauses eg.
Public panel: leading from the streets

Colons (:)
Please do not use colons at the end of a heading eg.
Why you should become an activist:

Commas (,)
Use commas in a short list. For example:
Portugal, Spain and France

Commas (,)
Please do not add a comma before the last item in a list. For example:
Portugal, Spain, and France

Dashes and hyphens (- 😉
A hyphen is to be used when:
• the second element begins with a capital (ex. un-Australian)
• the second element is a date (ex. pre-1914)
• an expression would be ambiguous without it (ex. re-creation not recreation)
• dealing with two or more separate words (ex. cold-shoulder, surface-to-air)
• the words that are used as compound adjectives (ex. we are having sugar-free cake; he was a good-hearted boy)

Dashes and hyphens (- 😉
Please do not use a hyphens to separate single words (ex. Paris; Rome)

A dash ( – ) is to be used with a space on either side to:
• connect similar thoughts and sentences
• signify an abrupt change. For example:
Cycling to work is a healthy pastime – but not in traffic.

Use an unspaced dash for number ranges (ex. 1912–1914) unless ‘from’ precedes the numerals (ex. from 1960 to 1963).

Please do not use a dash instead of a comma. For example:
Save the date– 21 March

Please never use an em dash (—).

Ellipsis points (…)
Ellipsis points are to be used to show the omission of a word (or words) in a quote. For example:
The Minister said, “The new plan will benefit various groups … by containing measures to compensate for low income”.

Use only three points, even at the end of a sentence (do not add a full stop). Add a space before and after ellipsis points.

Ellipsis points (…)
Please do not use ellipsis points to add drama to your writing. For example:
And the winner is…

Exclamation marks (!)
Exclamation marks are to be used to express excitement. They can also be used to express surprise, astonishment, or any other strong emotion.

Exclamation marks (!)
Please do not overuse – they can make your writing way too excited!

Full stop (.)
A full stop is to be used to indicate the end of a sentence.

Full stop (.)
Please do not use:
• after headings and subheadings, including poster and flyer headlines
• after captions and teaser text that are not complete sentences
• in a bullet list of incomplete sentences, except for the final bullet point.

Quotation marks (” ‘)
Double quotation marks (“) are to be for direct quotes. Use single quotation marks (‘) for quotes within quotations. Also use single quote marks in headers and sub-headings. For example:
“There was no doubt that they were deprived of their most basic human rights …” – The New York Times

Single quotation marks are also used to enclose technical terms, colloquialisms, slang and coined terms. For example:
The President said it was a win for the ‘war on terror’.

Quotation marks (” ‘)
Please do not use double quotation marks for slang terms. For example:
Refugees aren’t getting a “fair go”.

Web address/links
In Facebook, whenever you insert a web address in a post, a link is automatically generated that includes a picture and a short description of the website. Please remove the web address from the message after the link is generated.

Web address/links
If a web or email address is the last thing in a sentence, do not use a full stop.