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5 social media tools to improve your storytellingMallary Jean Tenore / Managing editor / @MallaryTenore
Why use social media?Because that’s where our audience is.
• Facebook: <800 million users.• Twitter: <500 million users.• Instagram: <100 million users.• Pinterest: <25 million unique visitors.
Mallary Tenore, Managing editor
Think of publishing as the start of a process of sharing.
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TwitterSee potential reach by analyzing links at www.WhoTweetedMe.com
Twitter• See your most influential Twitter followers on
Twianuglate.com.
Twitter• Give people a behind-the-scenes look at the
reporting process.
“If I am watching an accident on our chopper feed
and it’s hard to look at, I’ll tweet that. If I get starstruck by someone who is in our studio, I’ll let my followers know. … If I’m covering a story, then they’re going to get information on that story, but it’ll be through my eyes and emotions.” ~KIRO-TV traffic anchor Jenni Hogan
• Find and capture reaction.
• Create lists to organize tweets. – Great example of an active list user:
Twitter• Each of these lists is filled with relevant
Twitter users.
Twitter• Find local sources by using Twitter’s search
function: https://twitter.com/search
Find local sources by using the advanced search function.
• A good starting point for finding sources, information and ideas.
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• Use Topsy.com to dig up the past.
• Build your credibility.• If you haven’t verified information, tweet
something along the lines of: “X is reporting Y, but we haven’t been able to confirm this information yet.” Or send a couple of tweets saying: “We are working on this story and will tweet updates as soon as we have them. Here’s what we do know.”
Facebook • Figure out which posts get the most attention:
– Posts that include a question or call to action.– Personal analysis.– Post at night and on weekends.– Photos/images.
“Photos received 50% more likes than non-photo posts, and journalists who shared links that included a thumbnail image in the link preview received 65% more likes and 50% more comments than posts that did not include images.” ~Facebook study
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Facebook• Create Interest Lists showcasing your staff.
Facebook• Create a variety of Interest Lists for readers.
Facebook• Ask for help with stories, find sources.
Facebook • NPR’s Andy Carvin: Facebook lets us empower those
who love us, listen to those who don’t.
“We see our fans as a community of smart, funny, Internet-savvy people who love what we do and want to support us. For some people, this support translates into sharing our stories and introducing new people to our content. For others, it’s about helping us with our reporting, including finding sources.” ~Carvin
Facebook • Turn investigations into collaborative
storytelling efforts.
Pinterest• What works well:
– Recipes – Fashion– Weddings – Crafts-- (And news!)
“Pin” photos from your site and link the photo to your site’s content. Sync it to your Facebook or Twitter account.
Pinterest• Respond to what’s popular.
• Post photos that highlight local attractions.
• Showcase high school and college sports.
• Highlight graphics, interactives.
• Highlight photos from contests.
Every year, the York Daily Record in Pennsylvania has a Peeps diorama contest. It features the submissions on its Pinterest page.
Pinterest• Highlight images from local news events.
• “As photos poured in and flooded social media sites, I tried to think of a way that we could gather and present them quickly and with a powerful visual impact. Slideshows, I think, lose some oomph by only displaying one image at a time … It’s got to be a subject I’m really interested in before I’ll click through a slideshow of, say, 40 or 50 photos. Pinterest seemed like a natural solution.” ~Bruce Tomaso, Dallas Morning News online editor
Pinterest• Highlight mugshots that your audience might
not otherwise see.
Pinterest• Highlight your work.
• “After I signed up for Pinterest, people told me it was a site for cupcakes and wedding bouquets. I didn’t know that beforehand, and I don’t think that kind of reputation needs to stand. Social media is a tool, like many others in our trade; it can be as good and as useful as we force it to be.” ~New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers
• Share and find photos using hashtags.
Instagram/Beizmindi)
During Hurricane #Sandy, Instagram users posted 10 pictures every second.
Instagram• NBC News used it to highlight photos from a
tornado in Texas.
• Use Instagram to build a new audience, grow your existing one.
From Anthony Quintano, NBC’s community manager
• Highlight local happenings.
The Fayetteville Flyer in North Carolina frequently posts Instagram photos of people, places and things around town.
Instagram• Create your own hashtags, then cross-
promote them to generate interest.
Storify
• Create stories by pulling together social media elements, adding context.
Storify
• The five types of stories that make for good Storifies:– Social movements– Breaking news– Internet humor, memes– Reaction stories, highlighting conversations– Weather
Storify
• Mother Jones used it during the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Storify
• Mother Jones also used it to capture tweets from the #OccupySesameStreet meme.
Storify
• Use it to collect answers to questions.
Storify• Use it to show how news spreads.
Storify
Other social media tools
• RebelMouse – social media curator• Reddit – breaking news curator• Tumblr – microblogging site• ScribbleLive & Cover it Live – live blogging
sites
RebelMouse.com
Now … go experiment!
• Social media is all about being open to new ways of telling stories – and experimenting. To reach new readers, listeners and viewers, you need to find them where they are & where they’re consuming news. Increasingly, they’re doing so on social networking sites.
Questions?
• Mallary Jean Tenore• Email: [email protected]• Twitter: @MallaryTenore• Stories: www.poynter.org/mallary
Thank you!
