This document discusses the use of social media by journalists. It provides examples of how journalists are using platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to engage with audiences, break news stories, crowdsource information and build their personal brands. The document also addresses some of the challenges of using social media, such as spreading staff too thin or distributing wrong information. Overall, the key message is that social media allows journalists to be more transparent and connect with audiences in new ways, but it also requires careful use to ensure accuracy and represent appropriate identities.

1. Social Media & News
JOUR 2300 – Principles of News
Professor Neil Foote

2. Social Media? Really?
Conversations
Engagement
2

3. Conversations
Engagement
3

4. Content & Conversations
Joy Mayer:
• Journalists have to transition from
distancing themselves from “community”
to “engaging” themselves
• Use information to improve their
communities
• Make citizens feel more invested in and
connected to the news product
Source: “Engaging Communities: Content and Conversation, by Joy Mayer
4

5. Content & Conversations cont.
• Journalists need to get as much
information about what their readers
want to know
• Journalists need to define
engagement
• Use the tools available
• Social media is the enabler, the
connector, the conduit
Source: “Engaging Communities: Content and Conversation, by Joy Mayer
5

6. Content & Conversations cont.
• Social media is the fuel for
community engagement
• Solicit ideas
• Invite feedback
• Gather information
• Solve problems
• Serve as a forum for debate
6
Source: “Engaging Communities: Content and Conversation, by Joy Mayer

7. Steve
Yelvington:
Three
Primary Roles
of Local
Media
7
Source: The three primary roles your local website should play, http://www.yelvington.com/content/three-primary-roles-your-localwebsite-should-play, By Steve Yelvington

8. The town crier:
The quaint
colonial-era
village character
who walks
around ringing a
bell telling you
what's
happening.
8
Source: The three primary roles your local website should play, http://www.yelvington.com/content/three-primary-roles-your-localwebsite-should-play, By Steve Yelvington

9. The town
square:
Social
media, blogs, ph
oto/video
sharing
9
Source: The three primary roles your local website should play, http://www.yelvington.com/content/three-primary-roles-your-localwebsite-should-play, By Steve Yelvington

10. The town expert:
Sharing
resources, contac
ts, lists, key
information
Seattle Times
WFAA
10
Source: The three primary roles your local website should play, http://www.yelvington.com/content/three-primary-roles-your-localwebsite-should-play, By Steve Yelvington

11. 11
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/tkawaja/social-lumascape-8223008

12. SOCIAL MEDIA ICONS
12

13. The “Traditional” Flow Chart
In print/On
air
Media
website
13

14. The “New” Flow Chart
In print/On air
Media website
Media Blog
Pinterest
Twitter/media
name
Facebook/media
name
LinkedIn
Tumblr/Digg /
De.li.ci.ous
Mobile
14

15. Social Media – Evolution
• Evolved from three previous forms of short, text
based communications
• Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
• Short Messaging Service (SMS, texting)
• Instant Messaging
• Twitter’s co-founder Biz Stone as a combination
of all of these
• Simple to set up, simple to use
• 140 characters – that’s all
Source: Journalism NEXT, Microblogging, pg. 95 - 119
15

16. Social Media – Why it matters
• It’s real time: As good or better than the
wire services
• “One great thing about Twitter – and this
is why it is so useful for student journalists
– is that after a while it trains you to look
for interesting things around you (and
think how you can communicate that in
140 characters).
• -- Paul Bradshaw, a journalism lecturer in
Birmingham, England
Source: Journalism NEXT, Microblogging, pg. 95 - 119
16

17. Social Media – Why it matters
• Open-source journalism
• Pulling back the curtain on what we do
• Engaging readers/viewers as news
happens
• Perhaps giving non-broadcast media the
chance to compete with “live TV”
17
Source: Journalism NEXT, Microblogging, pg. 95 - 119

18. Social Media – Why it matters
• “Social media platforms such as Twitter enable budding
reporters to be part of a more
open journalistic
culture.
Traditionally the work of journalism has been
hidden behind the walls of the newsroom. Through social
media, journalists can be more open about their
work, offering insights into the process of news, and
connect with audiences in a way that simply wasn’t
possible a generation ago.”
• -- Alfred Hermida, University of British Columcia and
founding news editor of the BBC News Web site
18
Source: Journalism NEXT, Microblogging, pg. 95 - 119

19. Social Media Impacts Media Habits
Choice
•
•
•
•
Media
Search Engines
RSS
Quality varies
Conversation
•
•
•
•
•
•
Comments
Groups
Email
Chats
Twitter
Instagram
Curation
• “Gatewatchers”
v.”
Gatekeepers”
• “Tagging”
• DIGG
• REDDIT
• Flickr
• Youtube
19
Source: “Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, Chapter 8, Social Media and Web 2.)

20. Social Media Impacts Media Habits
Cont.
Creation
Collaboration
• Low barriers to
entry
• Little, or no cost
to publish
• Creativity versus
“stealing”
• Huge volumue
• Sharing is good
• “Widgets”
commonplace
• “Open source”
development for
code and content
Source: “Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, Chapter 8, Social Media and Web 2.)
20

21. 1997 – SixDegrees.com
2004
Flickr
Facebook (Harvard)
2005
YouTube
Xanga
Facebook (HS)
1999
2003
2006
BlackPlanet
LinkedIn
Facebook (all)
LiveJournal
MySpace
Twitter
2000
2002
MiGente
Friendster
21
Source: “Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, Chapter 8, Social Media and Web 2.)

22. 22

23. Journalists Using Facebook
• Searching for sources
• Find other journalists
• Distribution
• Breaking News
• Storytelling
• Creating Events
• Crowdsourcing
• Posting photos
• Streaming video
• Engagement
• Personal brand
identity
• Creating PAGES
• Creating Groups
23

24. 24

25. • Breaking news
• Hudson River plane crash
• Janis Krums caused the
TwitPic servers to crash
• The Arab Spring
25

26. How to use twitter
• What to ‘tweet’ about
• Link to a new blog, story, video, phot
• Retweet a comment or link
• Replay to someone in your community
• Talk about an unfolding story
• Insight, humor, thought-provoking
26
Source: Steve Buttry

27. Why Twitter?
Shortened links:
http://bit.ly
http://tinyurl.com
Short and Tweet @ 101.gs: http://101.gs
Use a headline to give folks –”tweeps” a reason
to click
Follow sources, journalists, organizations, trends
Crowdsource
Develop story ideas
Drive traffic to your stories
27

28. Twitter
• Identity of the Twitter account:
Does it represent you, alone, as a
reporter?
Is it for a regularly scheduled news
program?
Is it for the entire news organization?
• Choose one identity, not more.
• Be consistent with this identity.
28
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

29. Mastering Twitter
 Communicate within the 140-character limit
 Search and find Twitter feeds by name, topic, or
hashtag (#)
 Choose Twitter feeds to follow (curation)
 Create Twitter lists (also curation)
 Learn the art of the retweet (RT)
 Learn the difference between replies and DMs
(direct messages)
29
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

30. Hashtags
• Any Twitter user can make a hashtag
• Add # before a word (no spaces and no
punctuation)
• Create an impromptu grouping or
collection
• Examples:
• #opennews (The Guardian)
• #asknyt (The New York Times)
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams
30

31. Twitter for Journalists
• Uses of the Twitter account:
 Ask for comments and feedback from audience
 Follow fellow journalists
 Follow sources (monitor what they’re discussing;
discover trends)
 Share links to news content
 Tweet breaking news updates
• Which of these are consistent with the account’s
identity?
31
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

32. The pitfalls
Misuse
Distribution of wrong information
Fact check
Distraction from core tasks
Spreading staff too thin
32

33. The pitfalls
“It is not quite clear what the right
use is,” says Andrew Nystrom, a
senior producer for social and
emerging media at the Los Angeles
Times. “If you aren’t a friend of
someone on Facebook, should you be
pulling photos off Facebook? We err
on the side of caution.”
33

34. Tips on Tweeting
• Be newsworthy
• If you witness a newsworthy even or discover
someone else has, share that knowledge
• Be instructive
• Consider posts that link to tips/advice
• Include links
• Reflect your personality
• Build relationships
34
Source: “JournalismNEXT, Mark Briggs/Ellyn Angelotti, Poynter Institute

35. TODAY’S DISCUSSION QUESTION
“Facebook, shamacebook, Twitter, smitter. I
don’t know what it all means other than a
bunch of young journalists who don’t want
to learn how to report and write.
“Give me three good examples of how any
of this social media stuff will help me do
great journalism.”
--- Anonymous editor of a local newspaper.
35

36. Facebook Stats 2011

37. Breaking down Facebook
• More than a billion monthly active users as of
December 2012.
• Approximately 82% of our monthly active users
are outside the U.S. and Canada.
• 618 million daily active users on average in
December 2012.
• 680 million monthly active users who used
Facebook mobile products as of December
31, 2012.
37

38. Breaking down Facebook
• Over 1.13 trillion likes since launch in February
2009
• 140.3 billion friend connections
• 219 billion photos uploaded
• Data was pulled on 9/10/2012, and represents the
total # of photos currently on this site – in other
words, it excludes deleted photos. If we wanted to
include all photos ever uploaded, the estimate we
have is 265 billion. Photo uploading launched fall 2005.
38

39. Breaking down Facebook
• 17 billion location-tagged posts, including
check-ins
• Includes location-tagged posts as well as check-ins.
Data was pulled 9/10/2012, and represents total
location-tagged posts & check-ins since launch of the
product in August 2010
• 62.6 million songs have been played 22 billion
times - that’s about 210,000 years of music
• Data was pulled on 9/11/2012, and represents song
plays since the launch of music-listening applications
in September 2011
39

40. Characteristics of users joining
the week Facebook hit 1B
• The median age of the user is about 22
• The top five countries where people
connected from at the time we reached
this milestone were
Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the
United States (NOTE: in alphabetical order)
• Facebook now has 600M mobile users
40

41. Characteristics of users joining the week
Facebook hit 500 m Users (July 2010)
• The median age of the user at that time
was about 23
• Top five countries where people
connected from at the time we reached
this milestone were
Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and the
United States (NOTE: in alphabetical order)
• Users signing up at this time now have an
average of 305 friends
•
41

42. Characteristics of users joining the week
we hit 100M (August 2008)
• The median age of the user at that time was
about 26
• The top five countries where people
connected from at the time we reached this
milestone were Chile, France, Turkey, the
United Kingdom, and the United States
(NOTE: in alphabetical order)
• The user signing up at this time now has an
average 334 friends
•
•
42

43. Characteristics of users joining the week
we hit 100M (August 2008)
• The median age of the user at that time was
about 26
• The top five countries where people
connected from at the time we reached this
milestone were Chile, France, Turkey, the
United Kingdom, and the United States
(NOTE: in alphabetical order)
• The user signing up at this time now has an
average 334 friends
•
•
43

44. 44

45. 45

46. 46

47. • Adam Pasick, Reuters, tracked this, May 6, 2008:
• At about 1:37 pm, software developer Dave Winer asked the
Twitterverse: “ Explosion in Falls Church, VA?” (Perhaps not
coincidentally, Winer is a well-known blogger and podcasting
evangelist).
• A flurry of posts, or “tweets,” followed, as users reported rumbles as
far away as Alexandria.
• The mainstream media entered the fray at 2:33 pm, with radio
station WTOP reporting ground rumblings throughout Northern
Virginia, citing a possible earthquake
• By 2:56 pm — nearly 90 minutes after Winer’s initial alert —
WTOP had the official word from the U.S. Geological Survey: A
not-exactly-massive 1.8 magnitude earthquake with an
epicenter near Annandale, VA.
Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2008/05/06/breaking-news-twitter-style/
47

48. The Industry Leaders –
Twitter followers
Media Company
Now
July 2011
NY Times
Associated Press
9.5 mm
2.5 mm
2.5mm
CBSNews
2.8 mm
1.2mm
CNN
10.4 mm
1.2mm
ABCNews
2.8 mm
1.1mm
WSJ
3.5 mm
359k
FoxNews
3.3 mm
255k
LATimes
668n k
70k
USAToday
788 k
40k
NBCNews
ESPN
1 mm
7.2 mm
36k
48

49. 49

50. Tumblr
• Many of the
best Tumblr
blogs
emphasize
photography
and keep the
text brief.
50

51. 51
Example post: SI Photo Blog on Tumblr (siphotos.tumblr.com)

52. TUMBLR in a Nutshell
• Tumblr users are rebloggers: They will
spread your content (and your links).
• Tags are very important: Many Tumblr
users subscribe to tags.
• It’s not a full-scale blogging platform like
WordPress.
52
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

53. Best Uses for Journalists
 (re)Broadcast your own content
 News organization
 Program
 Topic (e.g. Singapore)
 Subscribe and follow Tumblr blogs
to get ideas, see what’s being reblogged
 Use Tumblr as a clip file for ideas
 Create your own tags to improve usefulness
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams
53

54. “Tumblr is is
•“Tumblr
the 25th most popular site
in Singapore based on
a combination of average daily
visitors and pageviews.”
—Alexa Traffic Rank, March 9, 2012
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams
54

55. Some Great Tumblr Blogs
• soupsoup.tumblr.com (Reuters)
• life.tumblr.com (photography)
• shortformblog.com (news)
• links.laughingsquid.com (weird & fun)
• theeconomist.tumblr.com (news)
• fotojournalismus.tumblr.com (photo)
55
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

56. 56

57. Still in the “invite
only” phase, Pinterest
beat
Google+, LinkedIn and
YouTube combined for
traffic referrals in
February 2012.
It also beat Twitter.
Pinterest
57
Findings based on aggregated data from more than 200,000 publishers that reach more
than 270 million unique monthly visitors each month.
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

58. PinTerest
58

59. Pinterest for Journalists: How to
Use It
• Feature your top stories. The most clear-cut way to use
the site is to promote your work, as many news
organizations already do: Mashable features pinboards
on tips and tricks, web humor and tech and gadgets.
USA Today has boards about tech gift ideas and CES.
Time dedicates a board to its weekly magazine covers.
• Mobile-pin pics. If you're out in the field and news
unfolds, snap a pic from your iPhone, upload and pin it to
your themed board of breaking news shots. Post images
to a sneak-peak board to advertise stories soon to come.
You can also upload videos.
59
Source: http://ijnet.org/stories/seven-ways-journalists-can-use-pinterest

60. Pinterest for Journalists: How to Use It cont.
• Find ideas for trend stories. Use the Popular button to
find trending pins or search for top pins by topic.
• Find pictures suitable for online stories. Heavily
image-based, the site is an archive of photographs
available online. Once you find a fitting image for your
story, perform a reverse Google image search to find the
original source and link/attribute from there. You can also
embed pins into blogs or online stories.
60
Source: http://ijnet.org/stories/seven-ways-journalists-can-use-pinterest

61. Pinterest for Journalists: How to Use It cont.
• Photojournalism portfolio. Photojournalists could advertise
their prints and sell them to the public. Arrange shots by
category via boards, add a price banner to any photo and link to
the website where prints can be purchased.
• Use it as an online storyboard. If you're doing web-based
research for an upcoming story, pin useful items to a board
dedicated to the topic. If you're collaborating with another
journalist, you can share pinning access by adding a contributor
to your board.
• Curate the news. Take a lesson from Scoop.it, a curating site
focused more on articles than images, and make your own
online magazine with the top news pins of the day.
Source: http://ijnet.org/stories/seven-ways-journalists-can-use-pinterest
61

62. WHY CARE ABOUT Pinterest?
 Female: 68.2% of Pinterest users are women
 Well off: 28% of users have annual household
income of US$100k+
 Young: 27.4% are ages 25 to 34
Average Time Spent on Site
Pinterest
15.8 minutes
YouTube
16.4 minutes
Facebook 12.1 minutes
Twitter
3.3 minutes
62
Source: mashable.com

63. Pinterest Pros and Cons
•Pros
Addictive: Users like to spend a lot of time on the
site
Lots of repinning: Users can spread your content
far and wide
Huge increase in referrals from Pinterest prove
that people do go to the original (your
content, your site)
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams
63

64. Pinterest Pros and Cons
•Cons
It’s the hot new thing; it may fizzle out
The visual bias is even more dominant than on
Tumblr
It may be better suited to product advertising:
popular categories include home decor, DIY and
gifts
64
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

65. Pinterest Tips
 Don’t fight the visual bias. Choose a really good
visual (make sure it’s on the content page).
 Write a short, interesting caption. Make people
want to know more (so they will click).
 Play like everyone else: Repin!
65

66. Copyright and Pinterest
• Even though images
link back to the original site,
this kind of re-use
does appear to
violate copyright laws.
66

67. Copyright and Pinterest
• Even though images link back to the original
site, this kind of re-use does violate copyright
laws.
Pinterest has an
online form for
reporting any
copyright
violation.
67

68. Copyright and Pinterest
• Even though images link back to the original
site, this kind of re-use does violate copyright
laws.
• Pinterest has a form for reporting any copyright
violation.
• For news organizations, any desire to prosecute
copyright violations should be weighed against
the value of referral traffic.
68
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

69. Pinterest Tip
 People can follow you (your profile)
 Or they can choose to follow only one of
your “pinboards” …
 Or just the specific pinboards they like
(instead of users + all of their pinboards)
• (You can do the same)
69

70. 70

71. Storify: What Is It?
• A tool that makes it easy to create and update a
string or stack of items from various sources
• Items can come from Twitter, YouTube, etc.
• Text can be inserted between items to add
context, to explain
• A Storify can be embedded in a blog post or Web
page on your own site
71

72. Storify: Best Uses
 Breaking news
 Social movements
 Internet humor and memes
 Reaction stories
 Weather events
72
Source: Poynter.org
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

73. Weather events provide a good opportunity for using Storify to curate user-generated content.
73

74. Storify
• More than any other tool, Storify
exemplifies curation.
74
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

75. Storify
• More than any other tool, Storify
exemplifies curation.
• To use Storify well:
Don’t just tell a story—enhance
people’s understanding of a story.
75
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

76. Storify
• More than any other tool, Storify
exemplifies curation.
• To use Storify well:
Don’t just tell a story; enhance
people’s understanding of a story.
• Never succumb to random
copy/pasting!
76
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams

77. 77

78. Instagram
 27 million registered users
 iPhone only: 5-star (highest) rating on
iTunes, with 400,000+ reviews
 Android version coming soon
 An average of 26 new pictures uploaded every
second
78

79. A TV Reporter & Instagram
• “Today was a perfect example of
how I use Instagram in the field.
My goal is to spark interest and
start discussions well before
the story airs. My updates mention
my station, and if I know what time
the story will air, I’ll mention that
as well.”
—Lindsey Mastis, WUSA 9 TV (Washington, D.C.)
December 2011
79

80. A TV Reporter & Instagram
• “I snapped a picture with my iPhone
camera … Then I added the photo to
Instagram and shared it on
Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and
Foursquare.”
—Lindsey Mastis, WUSA 9 TV (Washington, D.C.)
December 2011
Courtesy: Mindy McAdams
80