Social Media for Journalists

Erin Davisson WFRV-TV Channel 5

TWITTER CO-FOUNDER

• “The gap between people who’ve heard of Twitter and those who understand the value of it is still pretty wide.”

• “We have to get people to understand it’s not just saying ‘I had a bran muffin today,’ that it’s an information network.”

BIZ STONE

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT

How mobile devices are changing community information environments

By: Kristen Purcell, Lee Rainie, Tom Rosenstiel & Amy Mitchell Published March 14th of 2011

People get their news from the web:

• 84% of Americans own a cell phone or tablet

• 47% get their local news on such mobile devices.

• 42% of mobile device owners use it to get their local weather

• 30% get their local news

• 24% get their sports scores

How mobile devices are changing community information environments

By: Kristen Purcell, Lee Rainie, Tom Rosenstiel & Amy Mitchell Published March 14th of 2011

Mobile device users feel more plugged in:

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT

• 35% of mobile local news consumers feel they can have a big impact on their community (vs. 27%)

• 65% feel it is easier today than five years ago to keep up with information about their community (vs. 47%)

• 51% use six or more different sources or platforms monthly to get local news and information (vs. 21%)

• 75% use social network sites (vs. 42%)

DIGITAL JOURNALISM STUDY

Fourth Annual Digital Journalism Study 2011 by the Oriella PR Network

• 47% of Journalists use Twitter as a source• Up from 33% 2010

• 35% of Journalists use Facebook as a source• Up from 25% 2010

JOURNALISTS USING TWITTER

How do prominent journalists use Twitter?Anderson Cooper@andersoncooper

Neal Mann@fieldproducer

Andy Carvin@acarvin

TWITTER

MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON

TWITTER BASICSSTEP 1: SIGN-UP!

STEP 2: SETTINGS!

TWITTER BASICS

JOURNALISTS USE TWITTER

As a Newswire:• Follow Newsmakers• Lists• Make your own and follow others

• Searches• Search by topics and events• Look for hashtags (#)

• Tools• Hootsuite• Tweetdeck • Apps

• Brainstorming • Notice what people are talking about

@wfrv5’s Lists

JOURNALISTS USE TWITTER

For News Dissemination:• Share links from your website• Updates from the field• Be sure to send photos, Twitpic, ect. • Smart phone apps:

• Android – Twitdroid, Seesmic, Twitter• iPhone – Tweetdeck, iTweetie, Twitter

• News Engagement• Conversation: Respond, Ask Questions

• Sources• Poll followers• Twitter directories: WeFollow, Twellow and Listorious

• Questions • Give people a chance to contribute

FACEBOOK & MEDIA

The Stats:• 500 million active users

• Less immediate than Twitter

• More social than Twitter

• More widely used than any social network

• Facebook’s “Newsfeed” acts as a social newspaper and

personalized newstream

FACEBOOK + MEDIAFirst Check Out

Facebook + Media

Learn about best practices and tools to help you drive referral traffic, increase engagement, and deepen user insights on your site.

Search: Facebook + Media

PUBLIC VS. PERSONAL PAGES

There’s a difference in how you should relate to social media as a journalist versus your own personal life:

• Public pages format allows you to interact beyond the 5000 friend limit

• Facebook insights page:• Gives you insights into readers, demographics and activity that can help

you identify holes in coverage and content, and respond accordingly.

• Form a newsfeed:• By liking other pages, you form a personal newsfeed without the

appearance of bias

WHAT DO YOU SHARE ON FACEBOOK?

• Choose the right content:• Start conversations and provide

feedback to reporters. • Ask yourself, what are people

talking about?

• Thoughtful captions and status updates:• Don’t pander, show personality,

ask a question.

• Time your posts:• Six to eight posts a day!• Too many will overwhelm the

newsfeed.

FACEBOOK AS A NEWS TOOL

• Social Storytelling:• Reporters can post updates, links and behind the scenes photos and videos

• Breaking News:• TV stations can update in “real time” – particularly helpful in severe weather

situations

• Community Content:• People can tag photos, answer and post questions, invite you to events, act

as witnesses and sources

• Mobile:• Post photos and status updates with your phone

• Applications:• Can add to the functionality of Facebook

FACEBOOK AS A NEWS TOOL• Have Fun!

• WTMJ’s Vince Vitrano does a great job of showing personality on his page:

• Photos posted by Vince

• Daily videos posted by Vince & his co-anchor

• Links to stories

LISTEN AND ENGAGE

Show that real people are running the page and monitoring conversation.

A few rules on dealing with the posts you’ll find on Facebook and Twitter:

1. Negative posts: respond politely and professionally2. Know it alls: thank them for their input3. Potty mouths: resist deleting. If you must delete, have a policy and apply it

consistently.4. Pointing out mistakes: acknowledge – and again, don’t delete5. Spam: change your settings so that only your station posts show up on your

wall.

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

“Never post information on social media that could undermine your credibility with the public or damage the Star’s reputation in any way, including as an impartial source of news. Such postings could be construed by readers as evidence that the Star’s news coverage is biased. Remember, readers will hold the Star responsible for its staff participation in social media. Anything published on social media – whether on Star sites or personal platforms – cannot reveal information about content in development, newsroom issues or Star sources. Negative commentary about your colleagues or workplace will not be tolerated.”

The Toronto Star has a well articulated policy- here’s just one section:

WATCH OUT WHEN SHARING

Language and opinion can reveal bias.

• Revealing bias about an issue may influence a reporter’s ability to speak candidly to people who hold contrary opinions, interfere with your ability to do your job and your co-workers ability to do their job.

• Being offensive cannot only lose you viewers, it can lose you your job.