Tools of Engagement

Tools of Engagement
Steve Buttry
sbuttry@journalregister.com
Delaware County Times
June 30, 2011

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Ways to use social media
Daily routine
Find sources
Breaking news
Crowdsourcing
Investigative reporting
Distribute content
Personal & newsroom accounts

Connect w/ sources (balance, disclosure?)
Check pages of agencies, people on beat
Crowdsourcing
Look for people in the news
Ask for permission to use photos
Search (not all content is public)

Engage on other pages, not just your own (and not just to promote)
Be conversational
Share links from other sources
Create a journalist page
If “friending” sources bothers you, address in profile

Many more users
Much info private
Tougher to search
Not as immediate (less frequent updates)
Engage, don’t intrude
Great for breaking news
Great real-time search
Engagement not as intrusive
Hashtags help w/ search, conversation

Follow officials & agencies on beat
Twitter Search (advanced)
Hashtags (regular & spontaneous)
NearbyTweets
Breaking news
Crowdsourcing

Use other social tools, too

Why use Twitter?
It can save you time
It extends your reach
It’s an engaging, conversational tool
It’s great for connecting with eyewitnesses

Before the big story breaks
Follow lots of local people (NearbyTweets, replies, retweets, check followers)
Join local conversation
Master Twitter search (advanced)
Promote local #hashtag taxonomy (#okstorm)
Use Twitter routinely on your beat

Quakes, tornadoes, floods
Indonesia
Twitter HQ

When the big story breaks
Connect w/ witnesses
Crowdsource
Tweet early & often
Seek verification
Address rumors (say what you don’t know)
Seek photos
Converse
Answer questions
Thank contributors
Promote fresh content
Link to new reports (even competitors’)
Be human (fun where appropriate)

@statesman case study

Crowdsource

Say what you don’t know

Converse w/ public

Link to fresh content

Routine beat coverage
Follow officials & agencies on beat
Hashtags (regular & spontaneous)
Lists (Twitter, TweetDeck, HootSuite)
Breaking news
Crowdsourcing
Live-tweet or liveblog (can feed in tweets)

Sports coverage
Follow athletes, coaches, teams, bloggers
Find and follow fans
Follow, promote hashtags
Crowdsource questions for interviews
Live-tweet or liveblog games (can feed in tweets)
Feed tweets into stories

Ethical considerations
How do you identify yourself?
Ask skeptical questions
Seek verification
Ask question, don’t repeat rumor
Correct quickly

Crowdsourcing tips
Say what you know
Say what you want to know
Say what you don’t know
Say what you need to know
Don’t spread rumors
Vet sources & information

Set the stage
Build engaged community (follow people, converse with them)
Use multiple platforms (Twitter, Facebook, website, blog, newspaper, IRL)
Do the groundwork (don’t expect the public to do your job; invite them to tell their stories)

NPR’s Andy Carvin
“I think curation has always been a part of journalism; we just didn't call it that.” – quoted in The Atlantic by Phoebe Connelly

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

Curation tools for journos
Google & other search engines
Other Social media search
Storify, Storyful, Chirpstory
Blackbird Pie
Quote URL

Curation sources
Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube …)
Blogs
Staff content (current & archives)
Other news media (yes, competition)

Authenticate & attribute
Ask: “How do you know that?”
Ask careful questions of crowd to help you vet & verify
Check links, tweets & information on sources
Link to original source
Attribute

Read more about it
stevebuttry.wordpress.com
slideshare.net/stevebuttry
@stevebuttry
zombiejournalism.com

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Tools of Engagement

by Steve Buttry

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