Social Media can be a powerful tool for reporters. In Social Media 202, Robin J. Phillips introduces ways business reporters have successfully used Social Media tools as an extension of their beats. She discusses how Social Media has become a rule-changer in some news rooms.
41. “ Instead of meeting for a cup of coffee, I shoot the breeze with some PR folks/sources on Twitter.” Story ideas | breaking news | beat checks | brand development
42. “ Twitter is only as good as the people who are on it.” Immediate | concise | different form of writing | good multimedia tool
43. “ I tweet and retweet high-value news and analysis on the economy, sustainability and urban issues.” Promote blogs, columns | new trip wire | appreciate the speed
46. Issues to ponder… Ethics quoting from social media fairness = do you fan, friend everyone? Need for speed does urgency help create errors? how to deal with corrections on social media When do you take the conversation off-line friends, sources I n R eal L ife confirming the identity of SM contacts Skills Does speed, brevity of SM make you a better or worse writer? … better or worse researcher?
48. All about the contacts Want more? Let me know. Robin J. Phillips , Web managing editor Reynolds Center for Business Journalism Twitter: @BizJournalism
Editor's Notes
28k
Marketing genius
Marketing genius
Twitter goes back about 2 weeks for very chatty people. More for others. Journalisttweets goes further back.
@BizJournalism … Twitter list collection of biz journalists
Business on Social Media – Scott Monty, head of soc media at Ford. Ford gave away 100 Ford Fiestas to socially active bloggers. 37% of Gen Y were aware of Fiesta before it launched in the U.S.
More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
Big story this holiday season was Best Buy’s use of Twitter to counter an image it has had. Best Buy used its online employee newsletter to explain its goals and empower its employees who were not necessarily tech or customer service employees, but who could help during the high-traffic time.
NYT’s David Carr tells a story about being on a flight next to a man with too much aftershave. He tweeted that. A flight attendant arrived at his elbow and asked whether he might be more comfortable in another seat. Kinda creepy, but very good service.
Reporters can hold their own ‘listening’ campaigns.
A few weeks ago. Visit was a big deal.
But Balloon Boy story broke.
By ‘listening’ to what local people were saying, I found a potential source for an economy story.
Use social media .. In this case Facebook .. For a story.
Mary Beth Faller looking for class of 82 college graduates.
Three of about a dozen sources she found by searching keywords ‘class of 82’, graduate 1982, etc.
One of the best Twitter tools.
The advanced search is the good one.
Search turns up possible sources: an employee, customer, potential customer. People who are engaged. Already tell us they want to share their thoughts. And they have an opinion about the subject, Chick-fil-a.