The document provides guidance for staff writers and editors at Touchstone Newspaper on basic journalistic principles such as original reporting, defining journalism, developing interactive content, evaluating sources, and making articles fun and engaging. It emphasizes the importance of original reporting, developing expert-based content through interviews, avoiding plagiarism, using engaging elements like multimedia, and outlines best practices for writing headlines, conducting interviews, and structuring articles.
This presentation looks at the 6 key steps to advocacy and what everyone needs to do to achieve advocacy from their clients.
It also examines the benefits of getting it right and the costs of getting it wrong.
1) How to Fail at Social Media
a) How to fail when you’re just starting out
b) How to fail while doing social media
c) How to fail when responding in social media
d) Summary & questions
***BREAK***
2) Fine-Tuning Facebook
a) Why Facebook matters to libraries
b) Profiles versus pages
c) Facebook profile tweaks
d) Facebook features
e) Facebook Timeline and options
f) Facebook strategies that work
g) Facebook strategies that don’t work
h) Working with Facebook Insights
i) Examples of the good, the bad and the ugly
j) Summary & questions
***BREAK***
3) Tweaking Twitter
a) Twitter stats you actually should know
b) Things to stop doing on Twitter
c) Ways to do Twitter right
d) Tweet makeovers
e) Summary & questions
***BREAK***
4) Putting It All Together
a) Social media myths
b) Social capital
c) Measuring stuff
d) Interactive: rewriting of Tweets
e) Summary & questions
This presentation looks at the 6 key steps to advocacy and what everyone needs to do to achieve advocacy from their clients.
It also examines the benefits of getting it right and the costs of getting it wrong.
1) How to Fail at Social Media
a) How to fail when you’re just starting out
b) How to fail while doing social media
c) How to fail when responding in social media
d) Summary & questions
***BREAK***
2) Fine-Tuning Facebook
a) Why Facebook matters to libraries
b) Profiles versus pages
c) Facebook profile tweaks
d) Facebook features
e) Facebook Timeline and options
f) Facebook strategies that work
g) Facebook strategies that don’t work
h) Working with Facebook Insights
i) Examples of the good, the bad and the ugly
j) Summary & questions
***BREAK***
3) Tweaking Twitter
a) Twitter stats you actually should know
b) Things to stop doing on Twitter
c) Ways to do Twitter right
d) Tweet makeovers
e) Summary & questions
***BREAK***
4) Putting It All Together
a) Social media myths
b) Social capital
c) Measuring stuff
d) Interactive: rewriting of Tweets
e) Summary & questions
Context, social media culture, best practice-sharing & community engagement for Jewish startup projects (by Esther Kustanowitz, April 9, 2014, San Francisco)
This presentation addresses questions from members of the Women's National Book Association (WNBA), New York City chapter. It provides an explanation of Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm and the basics of marketing. Throughout the presentation,
Presentation/discussion for Chicago Booth Career Services team on how to use social media to accomplish their departmental goals, connect with students, assist in job searches, and promote events.
Answer essential questions as you design and build your website--target your audiences, understand what they're looking for, ensure you're seen and recognized at a gland. Then choose the right social media platform for your business and audiences.
An introduction to blogging and writing blog posts. This is aimed at educators, instructors, and related professionals. References the blog at the International Institute for Innovative Instruction: http://engage.franklin.edu/i4/
Tumblr: a land of memes, cat GIFs, self-indulgent ramblings and…high-quality curated content? Yes, indeed! With mainstream media as well as respected institutions such as museums and national non-profits now on board, Tumblr has become home to an increasingly sophisticated mix of content. Because of the way Tumblr works and its audience, often the unique, hard-to-find, original source material – archival documents, historic photos, artwork – rises to the top and becomes the most shared, with the most loyal fan-base. With this in mind, how can universities and colleges leverage their content – especially original, unique, highly visual or historic content – to their advantage on Tumblr? Based on four years experience curating the highly successful Art Deco Architecture blog (decoarchitecture.tumblr.com), Darling will outline the basics of Tumblr, showcase various colleges and universities who are doing Tumblr right, and how to judge whether the micro-blogging site can be a good fit for an institution’s marketing efforts.
Managing your social media profile do's & don'ts july 2015Black Box Theory
Social Media has given us a platform to put ourselves out there and engage with others. While we are using it as tool to represent who we are, companies are using it to predict what we would be like as employees.
Be mindful of your ORM and treat it with respect…that’s your brand afterall
Web Analytics for Communicators, created for University of Minnesota Communicators Forum, 2015. Some slides have been removed to protect the identity of the clients.
Copywriting for the share without going click-baitTim Vermeire
This presentation investigates why people share things and how marketing can design for the share. It consequently zooms in on specific social networks Twitter and LinkedIn.
Context, social media culture, best practice-sharing & community engagement for Jewish startup projects (by Esther Kustanowitz, April 9, 2014, San Francisco)
This presentation addresses questions from members of the Women's National Book Association (WNBA), New York City chapter. It provides an explanation of Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm and the basics of marketing. Throughout the presentation,
Presentation/discussion for Chicago Booth Career Services team on how to use social media to accomplish their departmental goals, connect with students, assist in job searches, and promote events.
Answer essential questions as you design and build your website--target your audiences, understand what they're looking for, ensure you're seen and recognized at a gland. Then choose the right social media platform for your business and audiences.
An introduction to blogging and writing blog posts. This is aimed at educators, instructors, and related professionals. References the blog at the International Institute for Innovative Instruction: http://engage.franklin.edu/i4/
Tumblr: a land of memes, cat GIFs, self-indulgent ramblings and…high-quality curated content? Yes, indeed! With mainstream media as well as respected institutions such as museums and national non-profits now on board, Tumblr has become home to an increasingly sophisticated mix of content. Because of the way Tumblr works and its audience, often the unique, hard-to-find, original source material – archival documents, historic photos, artwork – rises to the top and becomes the most shared, with the most loyal fan-base. With this in mind, how can universities and colleges leverage their content – especially original, unique, highly visual or historic content – to their advantage on Tumblr? Based on four years experience curating the highly successful Art Deco Architecture blog (decoarchitecture.tumblr.com), Darling will outline the basics of Tumblr, showcase various colleges and universities who are doing Tumblr right, and how to judge whether the micro-blogging site can be a good fit for an institution’s marketing efforts.
Managing your social media profile do's & don'ts july 2015Black Box Theory
Social Media has given us a platform to put ourselves out there and engage with others. While we are using it as tool to represent who we are, companies are using it to predict what we would be like as employees.
Be mindful of your ORM and treat it with respect…that’s your brand afterall
Web Analytics for Communicators, created for University of Minnesota Communicators Forum, 2015. Some slides have been removed to protect the identity of the clients.
Copywriting for the share without going click-baitTim Vermeire
This presentation investigates why people share things and how marketing can design for the share. It consequently zooms in on specific social networks Twitter and LinkedIn.
The presentation tries to explain the following in brief:
Why is Interviewing regarded as an integral part of journalism?
Types of Journalistic Interview
Principles of Interview*
Interview Planning : A step by step guide*
DOs & DON'Ts of an Interview
*(Not mandatory for some impromptu interview styles)
Department of Journalism & Mass Communication
West Bengal State University
Semester: 3 Session: 2013-2015
Reg No. 002017-2013
Paper: Persuasive Communication (Public Relation & Event Management)
#AkashCreations
Building Trust Within Communities Through StorytellingBrian Huonker
Traditional communication channels are becoming ineffective in capturing and engaging the attention of today’s perpetually connected community residents. This, in turn, is making it increasingly difficult to communicate with them, to keep the community informed on upcoming elections, filing deadlines, fee increases, as well as changes in policies and ordinances. Additionally, today’s “fake news” generation does not trust information from traditional channels, only 6% of millennials consider traditional communications even to be credible. Today's municipalities must adapt their communication strategies in an effort to be heard in the face of the consumers’ rapidly changing media consumption landscape. To get out ahead of traditional media channels with the facts. And most importantly, become the trusted source of information within their communities.
In this session, you will learn
How to identify a topic to write about from the questions your community is asking but not talking to you about.
Strategies for transforming those topics into informational and persuasive “storified” content.
How to utilize those stories in blogs, infographics, social media posts, and videos that connect with the community and ensures they are informed
How to deliver those stories through a content marketing strategy that builds mindful scheduling habits.
Discover tracking methods to understand which stories, types of content are being read by your communities and use that information to develop future stories.
Through strategic, engaging content, you can stay connected with your community to keep them informed on your ever-changing community. Build a trusted relationship with them to ensure your messages are received and understood. And become an unmistakable and essential community partner in their eyes.
From Publication to the Public Expanding your research beyond academiaTiffany Medina
What are the benefits – expected and unexpected — of translating your research for the general public?
• How do you pitch your research story to the media?
• When writing for the media or the public, how do you frame the topic to be explored so it is relevant outside of the research community?
Hear Maria Balinska, Editor of The Conversation US, previously of BBC London, and a 2010 Nieman Fellow at Harvard (need we say more?) address these questions in this one-hour webinar. She also presents some success stories from other researchers as well as one place to start for you and your colleagues – The Conversation US, an independent, non-profit media organization that publishes news analysis and commentary written by academics and edited by journalists aimed at the general public. (In other words, a team of professional editors who work with scholars like yourselves to apply their expertise to topical issues and to unlock their cutting edge research, all at no cost to you.)
From Publication to the Public Expanding your research beyond academiaSAGE Publishing
What are the benefits – expected and unexpected — of translating your research for the general public?
• How do you pitch your research story to the media?
• When writing for the media or the public, how do you frame the topic to be explored so it is relevant outside of the research community?
Hear Maria Balinska, Editor of The Conversation US, previously of BBC London, and a 2010 Nieman Fellow at Harvard (need we say more?) address these questions in this one-hour webinar. She also presents some success stories from other researchers as well as one place to start for you and your colleagues – The Conversation US, an independent, non-profit media organization that publishes news analysis and commentary written by academics and edited by journalists aimed at the general public. (In other words, a team of professional editors who work with scholars like yourselves to apply their expertise to topical issues and to unlock their cutting edge research, all at no cost to you.)
Telling Your Story to Motivate Donors and Advocates for Your CauseRachel Kubicki
This presentation focuses on the importance of great story telling and also provides step by step instructions for creating your story. Included you will find examples, quotes for inspiration, and more. This is intended for board members, nonprofit executives, fundraisers and volunteers. The goal is to equip you with a strong story that attracts and motivates others to engage with your nonprofit.
This slide serve as a guide to people who have just joined a Social Media and does not know about Social Media Etiquettes. It focuses on the point that Social Media is also like a society and so we must be responsible for what we speak on social media and we must not spam.
Playing the Game on a Different Court: A Discussion of Social Media for Local...Chrissanne Long
Sales professionals and business owners think Social Media has changed the way the game is played. The reality is, the game is exactly the same, it's just being played on a different court. Social Media is the new court. Those who have recognized this, and have established an authentic presence with social media are experiencing enormous business benefits. Nothing replaces fate-to-face time, but social media makes building relationships a much more efficient process.
Writing for the Web and Social Media 2015Kate Post
An overview of tips and tricks for higher education professionals writing for university-branded websites or social media. Created by Anna Harris and Kate Post of California State University, Chico.
"Telling A Good Story: Getting from Idea, to Pitch, to Public," was presented by Generation PRX Director Jones Franzel at the 2012 NYC Digital Waves Youth Media Festival. Learn more at htttp://generation.prx.org
2. The Importance of Original Reporting
• There’s a lot of junk on the Web…stuff that’s
filled with unverified, non-credible information.
Bottom line? There’s a lot of crap out there.
• You’ve got to make sure everything you write is
original, meaning that YOU researched and
published it EXCLUSIVELY in the Touchstone
Newspaper.
• This is your #1 obligation and key to success as a
writer for any publication.
3. What is journalism?
• Think “journal”--a daily account of REAL LIFE
• An expression of everyday life in realistic,
human terms
• Writing about an event or issue and helping
other people to make sense of it
• Today’s journalists not only provide
information, but they give people the
opportunity to INTERACT!
4. What We Do: Interactive
Journalism for the Web
Not your mama’s journalism!
5. What is the point of Touchstone?
• The point of Touchstone is to write well-
informed, timely, relevant articles to help
Manhattanville students live understand more
about their campus community and the ethos
of its members.
6. Expert-based content
• In Touchstone, we expect only the best content because
we care about our readers! We want them to find only top-
quality articles on our site that capture the essence and
voice of our community. The articles should be well-
written, appropriate in tone, fun, engaging AND expert-
based (for example, when you’re writing about the health
benefits of chocolate you’d need to interview and quote a
health professional among others).
• If you’re not writing an editorial, column or opinion piece,
you need to interview and quote other students,
Manhattanville professors, and whichever experts may be
relevant to the piece you’re writing.
7. Make sure it’s YOUR OWN WORK
• Many people are tempted to simply “copy and
paste” things they’ve seen elsewhere on the
Internet. THIS IS A NO-NO. Not only is it an act of
theft, but it is also degrading to you.
• Would you want someone to steal your work?
How would you feel if someone copied and
pasted your ideas and put their name on it?
IF YOU ARE USING SOMEONE ELSE’S WORDS OR
IDEAS, MAKE SURE YOU CITE IT!
8. What is plagiarism?
• Failure to attribute a quotation or work of writing
to the person who said it / wrote it
• Copying and pasting information from a Web
site, book, interview, or any other document and
putting it into your article without citing it
• Plagiarism is a CRIME
• You must ALWAYS be clear when using someone
else’s ideas or words by TELLING your audience
that these ideas came from that person
9. MOVING ON
• …because nobody wants to dwell on the
negative
• NEXT, WE WILL TALK ABOUT NEWS AND
WHAT MAKES SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY.
CONTINUE TO THE NEXT SLIDE
10. Being a writer: doing your job
effectively
…and having fun in what you do!
11. What you need to know about
ARTICLE HEADLINES
• You should fill headlines with KEYWORDS that people
search for (visit GOOGLE TRENDS to see what people
are looking for, check out Twitter and Facebook to see
what your friends are talking about and writing about).
Read the news and be media-savvy! Know what people
want to learn about and read about. In this case, it’s
college students at Manhattanville, ranging from ages
18-21. Think about the things they want to know.
• Online headlines need not be filled with puns—in fact,
the more clever and “cute” they get, the less likely it is
that people will find them in search engines.
12. MORE about HEADLINES
• Headlines should include a verb or action
word, e.g. “Mville plans party for winning
hockey team.”
• Only capitalize the first word of the headline
unless you’re using proper nouns (names of
specific people, places or official titles).
Sample headline: “The president of the United
States delivers speech to Manhattanville
grads”
13. ORIGINAL SOURCES
• Original reporting includes original sources.
• Sources are PEOPLE!
• Journalism is about PEOPLE—talking to real
people and figuring out their take on life.
That’s what makes it interesting.
15. What’s a “source”?
• Sources are PEOPLE—human beings with
pulses and reflexes. Not blow-up dolls, not
robots and NOT Wikipedia.
• Sources are BOOKS and JOURNALS—published
medical, non-fiction books and scholarly
articles written by credible professionals
(doctors, nurses, therapists, or someone who
has spoken to several professionals and cited
these people in their references page)
16. Where do I find sources?
• The yellow pages (call people and businesses in your
local community / town to get interviews!)
• The Internet (be careful, though. Visit Government-
regulated sites and trusted organizations)
• Through friends and family members
• Through networking events (get people’s business
cards and LinkedIn account information!)
• By asking people where you can find reputable sources
(talk to librarians, college professors, anyone you
consider trustworthy)
17. How can I interview a source?
• Face to face (this is easy when you need to interview a
fellow student for a profile piece)
• Skype (if the student is a commuter and can’t be on
campus)
• On the phone
• Via email
• Via Facebook / Twitter or Tweet chats / Blogs
• THE BEST WAY to interview someone WILL ALWAYS BE
FACE TO FACE! You can’t always trust an email or Facebook
interview. How do you know who’s really answering your
questions on the other end? You don’t!
18. How to interview someone
• Research the person you’re going to
interview. Read as much about that person as
possible
• Write down your questions in advance
• Don’t ask “yes” or “no” questions
• Be friendly and put yourself in the position of
the other person
• Write a “thank-you” note after interviewing
someone
19. Evaluating a Web site source for
credibility
• WHO AUTHORED THE SITE?
• DOES IT LOOK PROFESSIONAL?
• WHEN WAS THE ONLINE SOURCE PUBLISHED?
• Is it a .org, .com, .net? WHO IS THE WEBMASTER?
Search www.whois.net to find out.
• Is the information timely, well-cited and well-
researched?
• Are there a lot of errors on the page?
Misspellings and incorrect punctuation? Bad
grammar?
20. How to make your articles fun,
unique and engaging
HINT: You should have fun reading
your own work!
21. Find the best angle
• Do your research. If someone on the Web has covered a particular
topic in one way, think of another way to look at it. There are
hundreds of different angles you can take! Make your story exciting
and new. Make it fun!
• If someone has written a good article, don’t re-write the same kind
of information, but instead, LINK to it! Karma will assure that others
will link to your writing if you link to theirs!
• And guess what? Karma will also assure that if you steal someone’s
writing, someone will eventually steal yours to show you how bad it
feels. But if you do good, the good will be returned to you.
23. Interactive media includes:
• Video (e.g. your own or a shared YouTube video relevant to your
article)
• Photos and photo galleries (www.vuvox.com, www.slideshare.net)
• Audio clips (.wav, .mp3, .aiff)
• Text Graphics (e.g. www.wordle.net)
• Timelines
• Slideshows
• Charts / Graphs
• Document sharing (www.scribd.com)
• Quizzes / polls (www.quibblo.com, PollDaddy)
• Maps are useful when pinpointing a location…especially in
restaurant, bar or entertainment venue reviews
(www.maps.google.com)
24. Interactivity…continued
• BOTTOM LINE: Make your articles / columns
ENGAGING. People should be able to click on
different things—they should WANT to stay
on your page!
• People want to be able to DO SOMETHING
other than read plain text! Let them in on the
conversation by giving them a reason to
comment.
25. How to make content fun and
engaging
• Think about how the topic is relevant to
people’s lives
• Google trends
• Facebook
• Digg, Technorati, Twitter, TweetChat
• Google Groups / Chats
26. Making the content engaging
• Shorter paragraphs than something you’d find
in a physical newspaper / book / magazine
• ONE IDEA per paragraph
• Visually pleasing, colorful photos
• Slideshows (VUVOX or Slideshare)
• Photo galleries
• Videos (Embedding YouTube videos into your
document)
27. Make it easier for people…
• Use bullet points when appropriate
• Bold key words and provide links to words
people might not understand
• Always have a relevant photo
28. Putting your story together
• Rich Hanley, director of the graduate
journalism program at Quinnipiac University,
says to make a “DECISION TREE”:
• Outline the focus of the story
• Your topic
• Your sources
• Your ideas
• How you’re going to present the information
• How you’re going to make it engaging
29. Always ask if you’ve got a question or
concern!
• Visit the Writing Center at Manhattanville College or
consult your editor if you are having trouble with writing or
interviewing. Someone will always be able to help you if
you are willing to put in the effort.
• A special thanks to Marie Shanahan, veteran reporter who
taught me all I know about Web journalism. She’s fabulous
and must be recognized for her “fabulosity.”
• Thanks to Professors Rich Hanley and Kenn Venit for their
mentorship and great advice. They’re always teaching me
something. Learning is a never-ending process. Remember
that.