My presentation during the introductory session of Social Media for Journalists training in Biratnagar, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Dhangadhi and Nepalgunj in October/November 2012 organized by Equal Access Nepal and funded by UNDP.
2. Plan Today
• Talk about social media & it’s importance
for journalism and journalists
• Discuss Facebook & Twitter as important
platforms of social media for journalists
• Talk on online journalism & web writing
• Discuss use of social media in journalism
• Try doing everything that seems working
4. Social Media
• All tools on Internet enabling people to
connect to each other by sharing info.
• Communication used to be linear; then
non-linear but now with social media,
communication is circular.
• On social media, everyone is everyone
– creator, the distributor, the audience,
the commentator and the mediator.
5. New Info Order
• People are increasingly decreasing habits
to search information actively.
• Information finds audience.
• Social media is fast becoming first source
of information of many people.
• However, people still trust the information
they receive via mainstream media.
10. Journalism
Journalism
is not about print and ink,
its all about
NEWS.
11. Why online?
Unlimited space
Unlike traditional media, online media do
not have space/time restraint
Global Distribution
Global reach is basic feature of online
media
13. Weaknesses
Mushroom
News sites, journalists and
news/opinion
Lack of Credibility
It’s not easy to distinguish between
good and bad news site
14. Weaknesses
Ethical Questions
Privacy, accuracy vs speed,
copyright and advertising
Digital Divide
The gap between haves and have-
nots
15. Changes
Interactivity: Increased ability of the
public to actively interact online
Increased public access to forms of
media; access to big diversity of content
Reduced ‘gatekeeping’ powers of major
news organizations in agenda setting
New and powerful story-telling methods
through multimedia technology
18. Usages
1. Seek ideas & information
2. Cultivate source
3. Verify information
4. Publish / distribute news
5. Promote write ups
6. Get feedback / measure popularity
19. Ideas / Info
• Get the ideas for news
• Get the information
• Crowd Source
• Watch updates of related
people
20. Cultivate sources
• Try to find people
knowledgeable in your beats
• Follow / befriend them
• Connect with them
• Comments / likes / retweets
• Ask them
21. Verify info
• Every info needs to be verified
• See updates of related people for
indication to verification of
information
• If can’t ask openly –use direct
messages, emails and chats
• Important: begin with taking any
information online as fake
22. Publish / Distribute
• Publish all your stories online
• Distribute your content through social
media with a teaser online and a link
• Use all channels possible
23. Promote
• Promote your stories
• Create questions
• Engage in conversation
• Share / retweets good stories from
other than your sources
• Don’t share everything, share select
24. Feedback
• Ask for feedback
• Engage in conversation
• Measure popularity by likes /
comments and shares
25. Tips
Facebook
• Share one story every 3 to 4 hours
• Write compelling teasers, not just link
• Do not flood with updates
Twitter
• Share as many as you like
• Write short / sweet introduction