USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN NEWS COVERAGE

Matt J. Duffy, PhDCenter for International Media EducationGEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Atlanta, USA

Amman, Jordan For International Press Institute’s World Congress

What is Networked Journalism?

“Networked journalism takes into account the collaborative nature of

journalism now: professionals and amateurs working together to get the

real story, linking to each other across brands and old boundaries to

share facts, questions, answers, ideas, perspectives. It recognizes the

complex relationships that will make news. And

it focuses on the process more than the product.”

product.”

Jeff Jarvis, 2006New Media ResearcherAuthor of “What Would Google Do?”

Examples of Networked Journalism

Blogs

Micro-blogs

Social Media sites

User-generated video

Crowd-sourcing

Ushahidi Maps (next page)

Ushahidi Maps

Allows users to send in information via SMS, email to provide aggregate information

• iPhone thefts

• Snow clearance

• Etc., etc.

More Ushahidi maps

SyriaDeeply – tracks refugees, fatalities, and trending videos

More Ushahidi maps

Harass Map -- Egypt

Send an SMS to 6096

Tweet your report to #harassmap or @HarassMap

Post your report on our Facebook page or send us a private message

Email your report to report@harassmap.org

Now let’s tweet something!

All these examples came from this article:

http://www.wamda.com/2013/02/10-crowdmaps-bringing-transparency-to-the-arab-world

Allow me to stop presentation and Tweet it to the conference hashtag.

#Hashtags allow Twitter users to find similar information easily

Why use Twitter?

Many of these tips come courtesy Steve Butry Social media expert Digital Transformation Editor

with Digital First Media You should follow him on Twitter @Stevebuttry Twitter handle

Monitor activities, discussions of people in your community and on your beat.

Connect with people who will provide you helpful tips and information.

Connect with colleagues and share ideas with them or get ideas from them.

“Crowdsource” stories by asking your followers for story ideas or information.

Why journos should use Twitter

Quickly find people who witnessed or experienced a news event.

Break stories quickly. Provide live coverage of news events. Drive traffic to your content. Improve your writing as you learn to make

points directly in just 140 characters. Any headline writers out there?

Finally…

Why journos should use Twitter

Allows you to provide live updates in a disaster zone when communication is down

New York Times’ Brian Stelter did this for Joplin, Missouri, tornado coverage

@brianstelter 180,000 followers What he learned, His tweets #Joplin hashtag Instagram also useful:

http://instagr.am/p/EoTHO/

Why use Twitter?

Tips for integrating Twitter

Ways to find interesting people to follow: At Twellow, you can check for people to follow in

your community or for other journalists to follow. At NearbyTweets, you can check for people who are

twittering now in your community (or a community you are writing about).

At WeFollow, you can look for people who have chosen topical and geographical tags, ranked in order of their numbers of followers.

Tips for integrating Twitter

Consider using Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to help manage your Tweets. Can set up filters to have Tweet streams dedicated

to one topic When broadcasting links:

Use a URL shortener; Twitter comes with one, but …

Bit.ly will give you metrics, so you know how many people clicked on it

Tips for integrating Twitter

Finding Tweets Try “advanced search” https://twitter.com/search-advanced

Corporate accounts

Handled by group of staffers Preferably full-time

Not just a one-way street Monitor your @handle to see what audience is

saying Engage in conversation, if possible

Good example: Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper in my hometown (200,000 circulation)http://storify.com/mattjduffy/how-ajc-uses-twitter-for-good-journalism-in-the-at#publicize

Storify

NY Times , Global Post uses storify (or something similar) to aggregate news from social media

Can grab text, pictures, video from… Twitter YouTube Instagram Facebook (doesn’t work) Flickr (good source of copyright-OK photos) Google (very useful)

Now, let’s play with Storify!

Your assignment

First, I’ll give a demonstration of how to use Storify

Then, you’ll make a storify to share with the IPI World Congress

#IPIwoco2013 Either something IPI related (search for

content) Or, anything you want!

Verifying info from Twitter

As with all journalism, verification is essential Kovach and Rosenthiel’s

“Principles of Journalism” reminds us: Journalism’s “essence is a discipline of verification.”

Steve Buttry offers a few tips….

Verifying info from Twitter

Evaluating Twitter sources Use Twitter regularly in

reporting Develop Twitter sources Evaluate the profile Seek connections

(Will demonstrate)

Not credible

Verifying info from Twitter

Evaluate context Check time of Tweet Check for photos Check location

But few people actually include location

Look for confirming tweets (use advanced search if necessary)

Check previous tweets

Can't see much, but that's the crash site. http://twitpic.com/ut2c

Verifying info from Twitter

Verifying info from Twitter

Connect outside of Twitter Send direct message

But they must be following you (rare) Send them a tweet asking to talk

Put their handle at beginning and send your phone number, email address

Only people following you both will see that tweet Try to find email address, phone number Seeks connections – check followers of the person you

want to talk to Ask for photos, good questions

Verifying info from Twitter

Evaluate the situatiaon Fact-checking is laborious, time-consuming Alter level of fact-checking with importance of story

Reactions to a football match not that important First account of building fire pretty important

Flickr:photobydave

Verifying info from Twitter

Consider crowdsourcing Use your followers to

help with verification Andy Carvin, of National

Public Radio in US, did this with report that Israeli mortars were being used in Libya Storify account

Ethics and Social Media

Consider everything public.  Once you post anything even to a closed network, you

lose control of it. Consider everything signed.  Consider everything to be bogus.  Consider whether opinions are appropriate.  Consider whether internal matters are appropriate

for discussion.  Consider separate personal and professional pages. 

Ethics and Social Media

Photo and video networks Don’t assume it’s OK to grab a picture off Flikr Often photos are posted

under “creative commons copyright,” meaning it’s OK to use the pic as long as credit is given.

Often acceptable to post pic at top, then credit at bottom of post

Photos on social media sites Important to verify info from them before use If photos are “public,” generally OK to use

What about Facebook?

Personal accounts: Allow yourself to be “followed” Toggle in user settings Basically, audience can subscribe to your updates without

being your “friends.” Can engage with audience through comments

Corporate accounts: Create a page for people to “like” Provide updates – pictures engage better than text Invite engagement

On a story about lower wages, ask who has been cutting back on spending and how?

Google Plus

Google Plus will soon take over the world Ignore it at your own peril Really helps with SEO – use it to expand audience

i.e., Search Engine Optimization (Since it’s owned by Google)

Consider using Google Hangouts for interviews Can upload automatically to

YouTube

Whew! The End

Matt J. Duffy, PhDFellow Center for International Media EducationGeorgia State UniversityAtlanta, GA

Email: mattjduffy@gmail.com

Presentation is available at www.mattjduffy.com