3. 3
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“It’s relatively new to me,
but sink or swim, I’m
jumping in.”
4. 4
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Social media will not be
evergreen, certainly not
the Facebook of today. It’s
already passé.”
5. 5
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“. . . I’m disappointed at
how it has resulted in
everything becoming less
accurate and more
superficial.”
6. 6
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“I hate social media. I find
it unbearably narcissistic.”
7. 7
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Why on earth would I
want to see the random,
140-character thoughts of
people I don’t know?”
8. 8
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Would like a Twitter link
on every press release to
send that release out to
my Twitter followers.”
9. 9
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“E-mail is still far better
than direct messages on
Facebook or Twitter; I
can’t check everything all
the time.”
10. 10
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“It seems to be way
oversold in terms of its
benefits.”
11. 11
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Using social media is a
great way to quickly
aggregate reactions
around breaking news . .
.”
12. 12
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Using social media is a
great way to . . . find new
sources for stories and
share content we think
will resonate.”
13. 13
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“The future of news
gathering and
dissemination will
broaden because [social
media] has immediacy.”
14. 14
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Be selective about what
you tweet, post, etc., so
that it is really useful.
Tweet real news.”
15. 15
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Reporters want certain
things exclusively . . .
Once it’s on social media,
it’s not as interesting.”
16. 16
WHAT REPORTERS SAY ABOUT
SOCIAL MEDIA
“We are being urged to
use it more, but I really
don’t like it that much.”
17. GOAL FOR OUR STUDY
Discover:
• How much reporters use social
media
• What type of social media they
use
• Preferences when working with
communication offices
18. PROCESS USED FOR STUDY
• ACE Development Fund
Supported study
• Face-to-face interviews with
nine Ohio reporters
• 53 e-mail or telephone surveys
with reporters representing 40
news outlets
19. e of social media
usessomeformof social media doesnot usesocial media
52
1
COLLEGE COMMUNICATIONS
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
20. use of social media
twitter facebook blogs pinterest other
45
32
36
6
23
COLLEGE COMMUNICATIONS
USE OF SOCIAL
MEDIA
24. COLLEGE COMMUNICATIONS
REPORTERS’ USE OF
TWITTER TO FIND
STORY IDEAS
/api/stylesheets/-1?nofonts=1
usestwitter to find story ideas
Yes Sometimes No
11
23
9
34. EXAMPLES OF GROUPS
FOLLOWED ON FACEBOOK
• United Farmers and
Ranchers Alliance
• International
Federation of Ag
Journalists
• I (heart) climate
scientists
• National cotton
Council
• Various land-grant
sites
• NPR
• National Geographic
• Food Tank
• Food & Wine
35. EXAMPLES OF GROUPS
FOLLOWED ON FACEBOOK
• Modern Farmer
• Fish and Wildlife
Service
• Army Corps of
Engineers
• Various state
departments (ag, NR)
• National Weather
Serv.
• State and American
Farm Bureau
• NAFB
• TV/News outlets
• Police departments
• 4-H, FFA
36. EXAMPLES OF GROUPS
FOLLOWED ON FACEBOOK
• National Farm
Machinery Show
• Machinery Pete
• Machinefinder
• Rotary Club
• City pages
• Resaturants
• Various companies on
beat
• Various commodity
organizations
40. REPORTERS USE OF BLOGS TO
FIND STORY IDEAS
eets/-1?nofonts=1
esblogsto find story ideas
Yes Sometimes No
6
25
7
41. REPORTERS USE OF BLOGS TO
FIND SOURCES
sheets/-1?nofonts=1
sesblogsto find sources
Yes Sometimes No
5
20
8
42. EXAMPLES OF BLOGS
• Farmpolicy.com
• Bovidiva.com
• The Rural Blog
• Aquaafornia
• Maven’s Notebook
• Edible Geo
• Discovery blog
• Forbes blogs
• The Salt
• Modfarm
• Createquity
• Small Business Admin
• Nonprofit associations
related to business
43. EXAMPLES OF BLOGS
• Advocates for
Agriculture
• Inside Iowa State
• Civic Skinny
• Chronicle of Higher Ed
• IFT Cropwatch
• Farmgate
• AgWired
• AgDM blog
• Machinefinder
• Righteousbacon.com
• Buzzworthy
• Education Week
• Agricultureproud.com
45. COLLEGE COMMUNICATIONS
usestwitter, facebook, blogsto get
story ideas
twitter facebook blogs
20
15
10
5
0
almost all the time sometimes hardlyever
11
7
6
23
23
25
9
9
7
USES TWITTER, FACEBOOK, BLOGS
TO GET STORY IDEAS
47. • Snapshot in time (2013) Higher
use of social media today?
• Twitter is currently used more
than other outlets.
• Social media is a way for ACE
members to reach reporters —
even those who don’t like social
media. Should not be ignored.
• Should look at impact on social
media engagement on
• In face-to-face interviews, older
reporters tended to use social
media less. More use in future?
• News outlets still like exclusivity:
how do we balance that with our
use of social media?
• Follow hashtags, FB groups and
blogs reporters use to get insight
about their interests.
Conclusions, Reflections
48. • Farm Progress
• The Daily Dig blog
• Associated Press
• ThomsonReuters
• DTN
• Capital Public Radio,
Sacramento
• LA Times
• Penton.com
• Sacramento Bee
• Fresno Bee
• Baton Rouge Advocate
• Baton Rouge Business
Report
PARTICIPATING NEWS ORGANIZATIONS:
49. • Monroe News Start
• KTVF11, Fairbanks
• Fairbanks Daily News-
Miner
• Ames Tribune
• Statehouse News Bureau,
Columbus
• Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Akron Beacon-Journal
• Farm Journal Media
• Delta Business Journal
• Sun Herald, Gulfport, MS
• The Hattiesburg American
PARTICIPATING NEWS ORGANIZATIONS:
50. • Delta Democrat Times
• Vicksburg Post
• S. Market Bulletin
• The Starkville Daily News
• Clarion-Ledger
• Chickasaw Daily Journal
• Daily Journal
• Columbus Dispatch
• FarmPolicy.com
• Ohio Farmer magazine
• Farm and Dairy newspaper
• Brownfield Network
• Feedstuffs
• Ohio Farm Bureau
PARTICIPATING NEWS ORGANIZATIONS:
51. • ACE Development Fund
• Anne Adrian
• Tracy Turner
• Kurt Knebusch
• Marci Hilt
• Brian Meyer
• Pam Kan-Rice
• Nancy Tarnai
• Linda Benedict
• Susan Collins-Smith
• Keri Collins Lewis
• Bonnie Coblentz
THANKS TO:
10 of our news outlets were agricultural, and 30 were general. Among the general, however, were probably reporters who cover agriculture.
10 of our news outlets were agricultural, and 30 were general. Among the general, however, were reporters who cover agriculture. It was unclear from our data exactly how many.