Friend me - McCarver

Friend MePortland 2010
By Rachel McCarver
mccarverr@bcsc.k12.in.us

What’s comin’ up?
What is social media?
Promoting Content
Interviewing
News Gathering and Research
Crowdsourcingand Building a Source List
Blog and Website Integration
Building Community and Rich Content
Personal Brand
Ethics: Remember, You’re Still a Journalist
Experiment, Experiment, Experiment

What is social media?
A service that focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in in exploring the interests and activities of others.
Examples
Facebook
Flickr (Photo)
Blogging
Twitter
Twitter
Paul Farhi wrote, “Twitter attracts the sort of people that media people should love — those who are interested in, and engaged with, the news”

What is social media? (cont’d)
Facebook
Facebookgives reporters a means to connect with communities involved with stories, find sources, and generate leads.
For media companies, Facebook is a way to build community and reach a larger audience.

How has social media changed news?
What impact has social media had on news organizations?
The public’s trust of the news media in relation to social media
The relationship between local news organizations and social media
How news is and will be covered using social media tools.
Mark Briggs, author of Journalism 2.0, wrote, “Just like the telephone didn’t replace the face-to-face meeting over coffee, and e-mail didn’t replace the telephone, social media doesn’t replace other forms of connecting with people. It adds to them”

Promoting Content
Social media tools are bringing readers to news sites and in many cases are increasing their Web-traffic
This isn’t happening just through the publication’s social media account—but individual journalists’
Each writer has a social network, and using social media tools to promote and distribute content increases the potential readership of the article being shared.

Fan Pages
Facebook fan pages are also being used by enterprising media companies to grow awareness of their brands and connect with readers.
On November 5th, 2008, the day after Barack Obama became President-Elect of the United States, The New York Times ran an ad campaign on Facebook asking fans what Obama should do first as president. The newspaper’s fan page led with a call-to-action image asking fans to join the discussion. It also offered a free virtual gift of its newspaper with the headline “Obama Wins.”

Using status updates (cont’d)
Helps to promote your publication
Examples:
Joe Schmoe is excited about the newspaper coming out tomorrow
Susie Smith says don’t forget to buy your yearbook.
Brad Brown is excited for everyone to see his photo essay about prom.

Interviewing
Using Facebook and Skype for interviewing sources
Paul Jones, a clinical associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teaches journalism students how to use technologies like Skype for conducting interviews. “The thing you use for play is also the thing you use for work,” Jones said of the tool. A student can conduct and record the interview on Skype and later embed it within an online post.

News Gathering and Research
The power of real-time search is providing journalists with up-to-the-second information on the latest developments of any news, trends and happenings, worldwide.
Sreenivasan said searches on social media sites can point journalists to supplementary information for their reporting.
Farhi described Twitter as a “living, breathing tip sheet for facts, new sources and story ideas.” He added, “It can provide instantaneous access to hard-to-reach newsmakers, given that there’s no PR person standing between a reporter and a tweet to a government official or corporate executive. It can also be a blunt instrument for crowdsourcing”

Example of finding leads on sources
In April 2008, Ivan Oransky, who at the time was the managing editor, online, of Scientific American, joined Facebook. Shortly after setting up his new Facebook account, he accepted a friend invite from bioethicist Glenn McGee, the founder of the Alden March Bioethics Institute, who had once worked with Oransky at “The Scientist” magazine as a columnist.

Example of finding leads on sources (cont’d)
“Then I noticed a bunch of things about his profile page: A curious status line about having the worst month ever. A job that seemed to end abruptly. Lots of references to lawyers,” wrote Oransky later in a blog post on ScientificAmerican.com.
Oransky assigned a couple of Scientific American reporters to chase down McGee and see what was up. The publication eventually ran three stories about McGee’s departure from the Alden March institute that he founded and led. For Oransky and his team at Scientific American, Facebook was useful in this case as a lead generation tool.

Using groups or communities
Last year the Orlando Sentinel discovered a Facebook group devoted to the lack of water at the University of Central Florida’s brand new football stadium
This group provided immediate access to dozens of sources who had experienced the first opening game in 95 degree heat

Using groups or communities
Building a community among social networks doesn’t happen overnight.
Don’t try and parachute social network. An example: Jump in a group related to a particular event (like the Virginia Tech shootings)
“Don’t be a parasite,” he said. “Do see this as a long-term investment in your community — contribute,” said J.D. Lasica, founder and editorial director of Socialmedia.biz and a former editor at the Sacramento Bee

How to get the community open up to you (cont’d)
Working a beat takes time. It’s no different as a user on a social networking site.
“It’s all about karma. The community won’t share with you unless you’ve shared (your experiences, your thoughts, your passions) with them. Don’t just be a journalist. Be human,” Lasica said.

Crowdsourcing and Building a Source list
A journalist can tweet a question involving their reporting or announce that they are looking for a source via their FriendFeed and get some remarkable responses
Not only do you have to find these sources, you have to keep them

Messaging
Mass messaging to friends
“Does anyone know someone who isn’t going to prom and has alternative plans?”
“Do you know anyone who recently adopted a pet from an animal shelter?”

Publishing with Social Tools
Publishing via social media tools can be as simple as updating readers or “followers” on Twitter during a breaking news event or building an entire news site focused around Facebook connectivity and conversations about local news
Wordpress for blogging
Twitter for live updates
Facebook for posting articles or video
Delicious for bookmarking
Flickr for photos
Youtube for video

Building Community and Rich Content
The greater goal is to build a community through engagement. Crowdsourcing, live blogging, tweeting — it’s about building a network around issues that matter to the community.
Social media should help journalists do their job and be integrated into their reporting, but not take it over.
Content is still king.

Building Community and Rich Content (cont’d)
Paul Jones, a clinical associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill emphasized the importance of creating rich content. “A tweet shouldn’t just be ‘I am eating a sandwich,’” he said. It should include a link with details that are useful to someone reading it.
And retweets, he said makes the original tweet more rich and gives it credibility because someone else thought it was useful to share with their network.
In a way, it is like the Associated Press wire picking up your story, Jones said

Personal Brand
Students can’t stay in school forever — eventually they need to get jobs.
Social networks can be used to build a personal brand that can help students land a reporting gig after college

Using your personal Twitter and linking it to your professional

Blogging with a personality

Ethics
There are no hard and fast rules for ethics and social media yet.
Keep in mind the horror stories of people not getting jobs because of their social media profiles and the things they put on them — remember that employers no longer just look at your resume.

Ethics in social networking
Consider everything public
Even though sites generally allow you some control over who sees your contributions, you should regard everything you post online as public.
Some of your “friends” could pass along what you have posted. Once you post anything even to a closed network, you lose control of it.

Ethics in social networking (cont’d)
Consider everything signed
If there’s any chance you might use a social-networking platform professionally, it’s best to identify yourself, your publication and your position candidly.

Consider everything to be bogus
Some people use fake names on social networks. Some people use fictional profiles. Some people will make exaggerated or false claims or accusations.
You will find valuable information on social networks, but it won’t always be easily distinguished from the lies, mischief and misinformation. Use the social network as a starting point in your reporting, but be sure to verify and attribute.
Double Check the Double Check
If your parents say they love you….confirm it with somebody else.

“Verify, verify, verify. Facebook is a great source for story ideas, but no news story should be solely-sourced through social media,” Jane E. Kirtley, Professor of Media Ethics and Law and director of the Silha Center at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, . “Seek corroboration. And if at all possible, interview the person either by phone or face-to-face. It is so easy to lie on the Internet, and to misrepresent oneself. No journalist wants to spread falsehoods or be taken in by a hoax.”

Consider whether opinions are appropriate
Discuss with your editors (or with your staff if you are an editor) what kind of statements of opinion, if any, are appropriate for you to make on social-networking sites.
If you have or are getting a Facebook page, leave blank the section that asks about your political views.
Remember that although you might get useful leads by joining a group on one of these sites, it will appear on your page, implying that you "joined" it -- potentially complicated if it is a political group, or a controversial group.

Consider whether opinions are appropriate (cont’d)
Opinions are not a one-size-fits-all situation. But make sure that editors and staff are agreed about what’s appropriate for each situation, or whether a single policy covers everyone on your staff.

Friends?
Could your “friend” turn out to be an embarrassment that casts doubt on impartiality
It would not have looked good in the presidential election campaign for a national political reporter to agree to be a "friend" of Barack Obama without first making sure to be a "friend" of John McCain, too.

Consider whether internal manners are appropriate discussion
On Facebook, Twitter and personal blogs, many people discuss the everyday matters of their work life.
Be careful not to disclose something that might violate a confidentiality agreement with a source

Consider separate personal and professional pages
If you want to conduct truly personal social networking, consider maintaining a personal profile separate from your professional profile. Then you can do your reporting from one platform and pursue your hobbies or entertainment or sports interests separately from your professional work.
The best advice is to act professionally in social networks, even when you are using them personally.

Ethics tips from Jane E. Kirtley
1. Verify facts, identification of sources, etc. Be as certain as possible that the information you are providing is truthful and accurate, or, if that can’t be determined, making very clear what the source of it is.
2. Remember that nothing on Facebook or social media is really private.
3. Once it’s posted there’s no way to take it back or restrict what other people might do with it once they get access to it.
4. Reporters should disclose in their stories that they utilized Facebook as one of their reporting tools.
5. Be cautious about friending controversial individuals.

Ethics tips from Jane E. Kirtley (cont’d)
6. Be aware that others may draw inaccurate conclusions from your decision to friend someone.
7. Friending an unnamed source is the same as revealing the source’s identity. If you’ve promised confidentiality, you shouldn’t do it, even if the friend is using a pseudonym.
8. Journalists are regarded as “journalists” virtually 24/7, especially nowadays with people with all kinds of agendas who are constantly looking for evidence of journalists’ bias.
9. Use images and content from sites such as Facebook with care. How do you know it’s accurate? Don’t spread lies.

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment
Sreenivasan, Culver, Jarvis and Jones all pointed to the importance of students experimenting with social media tools. For example, if Flickr isn’t meeting your needs, try another tool that suits your use better.
Sreenivasan pointed out that we are all still learning the best practices of social media

Remember…
Social Networking are just a starting point for story ideas. Be sure to always keep your ears perked up for a good story!

Example of finding leads on sources
In April 2008, Ivan Oransky, who at the time was the managing editor, online, of Scientific American, joined Facebook. Shortly after setting up his new Facebook account, he accepted a friend invite from bioethicist Glenn McGee, the founder of the Alden March Bioethics Institute, who had once worked with Oransky at “The Scientist” magazine as a columnist.

Sources
“Journalism Ethics in Social Networks” Steve Buttry
“Poynter Develop Ethical Guidelines for Journalists Using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter” Kelly McBride
“TheJournalist’s guide to Facebook” Leah Betancourt
“WSJ Social Media Policy: Still Not Getting It”
“10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media” VadimLavrusik
“The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media Organizations” Ruth A Harper

CONTACT ME:
Rachel McCarvermccarverr@bcsc.k12.in.us

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