SOCIAL MEDIA

for journalists

@UjjwalAcharya

Plan Today

• Talk about social media & it’s importance for journalism and journalists

• Discuss Facebook & Twitter as important platforms of social media for journalists

• Talk on online journalism & web writing• Discuss use of social media in journalism• Try doing everything that seems working

Social Media

Social Media

• All tools on Internet enabling people to connect to each other by sharing info.

• Communication used to be linear; then non-linear but now with social media, communication is circular.

• On social media, everyone is everyone – creator, the distributor, the audience, the commentator and the mediator.

New Info Order

• People are increasingly decreasing habits to search information actively.

• Information finds audience.• Social media is fast becoming first source

of information of many people.• However, people still trust the information

they receive via mainstream media.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Journalism

Journalism is not about print and ink,

its all about

NEWS.

Why online?

Unlimited space Unlike traditional media, online media do

not have space/time restraint

Global Distribution Global reach is basic feature of online

media

Convergence Multimedia

Storage & retrieval Permanent / easily searchable

And, most importantly, immediacy

Weaknesses

Mushroom News sites, journalists and

news/opinion

Lack of Credibility It’s not easy to distinguish between

good and bad news site

Weaknesses

Ethical Questions Privacy, accuracy vs speed,

copyright and advertising

Digital Divide The gap between haves and have-

nots

Changes

Interactivity: Increased ability of the public to actively interact online

Increased public access to forms of media; access to big diversity of content

Reduced ‘gatekeeping’ powers of major news organizations in agenda setting

New and powerful story-telling methods through multimedia technology

Power shift

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR JOURNALISTS

Usages

1. Seek ideas & information2. Cultivate source3. Verify information4. Publish / distribute news5. Promote write ups6. Get feedback / measure popularity

Ideas / Info

•Get the ideas for news•Get the information• Crowd Source• Watch updates of related

people

Cultivate sources

• Try to find people knowledgeable in your beats

• Follow / befriend them• Connect with them • Comments / likes / retweets

• Ask them

Verify info

• Every info needs to be verified• See updates of related people for

indication to verification of information

• If can’t ask openly –use direct messages, emails and chats

• Important: begin with taking any information online as fake

Publish / Distribute

• Publish all your stories online• Distribute your content through social

media with a teaser online and a link• Use all channels possible

Promote

• Promote your stories• Create questions • Engage in conversation• Share / retweets good stories from

other than your sources• Don’t share everything, share select

Feedback

• Ask for feedback• Engage in conversation• Measure popularity by likes /

comments and shares

Tips

Facebook•Share one story every 3 to 4 hours•Write compelling teasers, not just link•Do not flood with updatesTwitter•Share as many as you like•Write short / sweet introduction

LETS TRY

Thank you!Now let’s try all those things!