For New America Foundation

1. Social Networking
for Writers and Wonks
Dana Goldstein
www.danagoldstein.net
@danagoldtein

2. Common Social Networking Hang-Ups
• I will be distracted from “real” writing, reporting,
and research
• Why should I give away for free what people
ought to be paying me for?
• Nobody cares what I had for breakfast (you’d be
surprised!)
• I will be overwhelmed by the amount of content
on the social networks

3. Will Blogging, Twitter and Facebook
distract you from your book, article,
or paper?
OF COURSE THEY WILL! It is your job to utilize
these tools without allowing them to take
over your life.

4. Remember: All Things in Moderation

5. I Write 1-4 Blog Posts Per Week
• Responding to breaking news on my beat
• “Reading Notes”
• Extra reporting that won’t make it into a feature
story
• Before I write any post, I ask myself: “Could I get
paid to write about this topic? If so, is the amount
of money/time/extra legitimacy worth doing a
full article?”
• Blogs launched just to promote a book usually
don’t work

7. When Should I Blog, Tweet, or Update
My Facebook Status?
Cartoon courtesy xkcd.com

8. The Internet Likes Opinions
• Opinions put you in dialogue with other
writers
• Therefore, you will likely share traffic between
your site/Twitter account/Facebook page and
their site/Twitter account/Facebook page

9. Target Writers Who Have More
Traffic/Followers Than You, but Not
That Many More
• Your job is to argue with, promote, and riff off these
writers. It’s even better if you know them in real life.
@EzraKlein, 114K followers
@JessicaValenti, 15K followers
@MattYglesias, 32K followers

10. Is blogging/social networking writing
for free?
• Sometimes. But think of social networking as a
promotional tool
• Building your “personal brand” by actively
Tweeting and Facebooking will lead to more
freelance gigs and job offers down the line, as
you translate your social networking into real-
world networking

11. @DanaGoldstein Twitter growth
Note extremely low/slow growth of people I follow relative to people who follow me
Chart via tweetgrader.com

12. People I Met via Twitter
@DianeRavitch, who I then profiled for the
Washington City Paper
@JoshCook, a Los Angeles teacher educator who I
then interviewed for a feature story on the future
of teachers’ unions. He introduced me to more LA
teachers, several of whom are now characters in
my book.
@GreenhouseNYT, Steven Greenhouse, the New
York Times labor reporter. He tweeted my review
of Steven Brill’s book, Class Warfare. We then
met in person at a fundraising dinner.

13. Use a Twitter Client. I Use TweetDeck

14. What Makes People Click on a
Facebook Link?
• Starting a conversation: Posts that ask a
question or call for action receive the most
feedback
• Opinion: Posts that include the journalist’s
personal analysis get 20 percent more clicks
• Posts with photos receive 65 percent more
“likes” and 50 percent more comments
Source: Facebook +Journalists study, July 2011, conducted by Facebook

15. The Ideal Facebook Status Update

16. Asking Followers for Feedback

17. And on a Smaller Scale…