These are slides for three workshops for the Los Angeles News Group: on community engagement, attribution and using social media to do better journalism.

1. You’re a journo,
not a carrier
Los Angeles News Group
August 2013
#DFMengage

2. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com (#twutorial)
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• sbuttry@digitalfirstmedia.com
• zombiejournalism.com

4. Social media = journo tool
1. Livetweet events &
breaking news
2. Search
3. Crowdsource
4. Monitor community
conversation
5. Curate
6. Hashtags
7. Lists
8. Embed tweets in
stories
9. Photos & videos
10.Verification

5. Live-tweeting situations
• Trials
• Meetings
• Sporting events (curate w/ public tweets:
Friday Night Tweets)
• Festivals
• Breaking stories
• Remember to feed site using ScribbleLive

6. Livetweeting tips
• Don’t transcribe; observe & report
• In sports, mix play-by-play & commentary
• Use hashtag (& check & engage)
• OK to pause for checking facts, names
• Note significant pause (halftime, lunch)
• Fun interludes, exchanges, anecdotes
• Check facts before you hit “tweet”

16. Social search
• Twitter advanced search
• Facebook graph search
• Search for keywords, hashtags, users
• Big news? Search: Holy shit, WTF
• Search by location (but most tweets
aren’t geotagged)
• Use Geofeedia (more than just tweets)

30. Crowdsourcing tips
• Say what you know, what you need to
know
• Don’t ask for help; invite people to tell
their stories, share their photos
• Reach broader audience (hashtags, ask on
FB pages of groups w/ interests)

31. Crowdsourcing tips
• Use Facebook, Twitter, G+, website, paper
• Search & crowdsource simultaneously
• Be careful about repeating rumors

38. Monitor conversation
• Follow officials on beat
• Searches, alerts for people & keywords
on beat
• Save location searches for breaking-news
terms (fire, emergency, siren)
• Save local searches
• Join conversation

45. What is curation?
Museum curator:
• Studies topic
• Chooses relevant
content (other
sources & museum
collection)
• Authenticates
• Groups related items
• Provides context
• Presents exhibit
Journalism curator:
• Studies topic
• Chooses relevant
content (social
media, blogs, staff)
• Authenticates
• Groups related items
• Provides context
• Presents collected
content

46. Curation
Situations
• Reaction story
• Public event (as
LANG did for
graduations)
• Second screen
• Breaking story
Tools
• Storify
• Spundge
• Geofeedia
• RebelMouse

48. Hashtags
• Regular hashtags
• Event hashtags
• Breaking news
• Humorous

49. Hashtag tips
• Use existing hashtag if there is one
• Search before launching hashtag (avoid
duplication)
• Look for secondary hashtags, especially
in events or breaking news
• Hashtags help you find witnesses & other
sources

53. Lists
• Organize beat by lists
• Lists save time
• TweetDeck, HootSuite
• Create list for story (who’s tweeting
about it?)
• Embed list in story or blog post

59. Vetting & verifying
• Track back RTs, etc.
to source
• Look for clusters
• Location enabled?
• Evaluate the network
• Evaluate the history
• Links, photos?
• Take it old school
• Disclose, hedge, repe
at
• Be brave only in
correction
Tips from Craig Silverman, Regret the Error

60. Evaluating tweeps
• How long have they been tweeting?
• Check previous tweets, interaction
• Check bio, links
• Check Klout score
• Google name and scam, spammer
• Contact & interview
Tips from Mandy Jenkins, Zombie Journalism

62. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com (#twutorial)
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• sbuttry@digitalfirstmedia.com
• zombiejournalism.com