Tagged: journalism
The Takeaway: What I learned from Poynter’s live chat, “What skills do journalists need to build online communities?”
On January 15, Poynter held a live chat about the skills journalists need to build online communities. The chat featured Holly Edgell, community editor for WCPO in Cincinnati. To kick off the chat, Poynter’s Joe Grimm asked Edgell to describe her role as community editor.
Part of Edgell’s role includes looking at how WCPO can cover hyperlocal stories and communities. Even though it’s not officially part of her job description, another one of Edgell’s duties includes working on how to unify the digital and traditionally broadcast minds in the newsroom.
Here are a couple of tips I took from the chat:
Success is multi-platform.
When it comes to getting audiences engaged and interested in online content, I’ve often wondered which platform matters the most. Are retweets better than shares on Facebook? Which comments are more important: the comments on the stories posted on a news organization’s Facebook page or the comments on the stories posted on the news org’s website? Which one of these is the best: retweets, shares, or likes? Should those in charge of online engagement make sure most of the activity is happening on an org’s website instead of its social media channels?
Edgell summed up how to measure engagement success in one sentence:
When cultivating an online community, success isn’t limited to just one platform. Comments, likes, and retweets are all measures of engagement. Every time users perform one of those actions, they are doing more than just clicking on a story.
Which leads me to the next point…
Engagement means more than just pushing out a story on different platforms and measuring the response.
Engagement has become a popular buzzword over the last couple years. So popular, in fact, that Poynter’s Matt Thompson wrote that the word “engagement” was dangerously close to being in an area he coined buzzwurgatory – a period when a buzzword has been overused to the point of meaninglessness, yet continues to be used.
Thompson challenged journalists and content creators to use the word “engagement” more carefully in 2013, suggesting that journalists should stop thinking of engagement as just exposing more content to different audiences and instead think of engagement as “deepening our users’ involvement in the creation and furtherance of our work.”
Deepening user involvement can definitely be applied to using social media. Journalists responsible for engaging audiences online usually work with at least two social media platforms. Even though social media certainly makes facilitating engagement easier, simply having social media platforms doesn’t automatically guarantee engagement. It’s up to web journalists like community editors to figure out how to best use social media to drive engagement, particularly on the local level.
“The social media universe is evolving ahead of journalists all the time, ” said Edgell during the chat. People want to connect around meaningful content, which is where we come in.”
Part of being a good community editor means recognizing what stories inspire the most engagement. Good community editors recognize what stories can “sell” themselves and what stories need to be “pushed” or marketed to inspire engagement. On Facebook pages, breaking news stories typically sell themselves. Users tend to ask questions about emergency situations or comment on controversial events. However, some stories inspire more engagement when posted with a question. When WCPO posted a story about McDonald’s adding Fish-McBites to its menu, the post included the question “Will you be trying this new side item?” In fact, the majority of the posts on WCPO’s Facebook Page end in questions, and most of the posts have at least two comments.
In November of last year, NPR Digital services released a study and held a webinar showcasing the 9 types of local news stories that cause engagement on Facebook. After geotargeting content from five NPR member stations, NPR noticed a trend: their Facebook followers were eager to engage with and share local content. The nine types of stories that inspired the most engagement were:
- place explainers
- crowd pleasers
- curiosity explainers
- news explainers
- major breaking news
- feel-good smilers
- topical buzzers
- provocative controversies
- awe-inspiring visuals
In addition to posting the kinds of stories listed above, community editors can take engagement a step further by asking audiences to provide content to share on their news org’s website and social media platforms. This user-generated content (UGC) inspires users to actively participate in gathering content for a story.
WCPO frequently uses UGC on its page. On January 21, followers submitted videos of a fatal highway crash involving more than 70 vehicles. The week before, the station posted pictures from followers of sunsets around Cincinnati .
Community editors can also curate photographs from followers on Pinterest (by the way, “curate” was another buzzword Thompson wrote about as overused). WCPO pins viewer pictures to Pinterest boards. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) recruits its Pinterest followers to pin recipes, travel pictures, and even funny commentary to different boards. Since news organizations are using UGC more frequently, The Associated Press Stylebook has even updated its guidelines on using UGC, including how to attribute and verify the content.
Edgell also touched on another useful engagement strategy for local news: conversational Twitter accounts. When asked about WCPO’s approach to replying to Twitter mentions, she responded that all news organizations need to eventually start engaging their followers instead of just using Twitter as an output-only platform to deliver content.
More local news organizations are using their Twitter accounts to respond to questions and news tips. Both the AJC and Rhode Island’s WPRI have two different Twitter accounts: one for news with commentary and responses, and the other exclusively for headlines. AJC has achieved a true balance of using humour to deliver soft stories while still delivering breaking news. The AJC Twitter account answers questions and makes jokes. During the night hours, the AJC is known for entertaining, even playfully calling a few Twitter followers by the pet name “boo” .
News orgs that use their social media platforms interactively show they are listening to their audience and know the issues their audience cares about. They also enable their readers and viewers to share their opinions on local issues that affect them, or show their pride in their communities.
While conversational Twitter handles can cultivate engagement on local levels, interactive Twitter accounts may not be as feasible for national and international news organizations who focus mainly on putting out daily content, alerts, and updates. However, hosting Twitter chats and creating hashtags for stories can help both national and international news organizations engage their audiences and involve them in discussion. On January 23, The Associated Press launched its series “The Great Reset”, which examines the economic downturn and the effect it has had on the American job market. The next day, AP hosted a Twitter chat with journalists Bernard Condon and Paul Wiseman. During the chat, users could ask questions about technology taking over traditionally minimun wage jobs using the hashtag #TheGreatReset.
To find a method of social media engagement that works, news organizations may have to test and try out different strategies, which leads me to a final point Edgell made during the chat.
Study… study… and study some more.
Edgell gave a tip that particularly resonated with me: one of the best ways to learn about social media and engagement is to study it.
I constantly compile new material about social media, including reading articles from sites such as Mashable, PBS Media Shift, and Social Media Today. On Pinterest, I have two boards full of articles and infographics devoted to social media and SEO. My bookmarks bar is also full of reads and webinars I’ve flagged about social media strategy for journalism from Poynter and IJnet. In fact, my goal this month is to migrate all of those articles to a board on Pinterest devoted to journalism resources (in case you haven’t noticed, I enjoy using Pinterest as a filing system).
I also enjoy both sharing and learning new social media tips during Twitter chats. Three of my favorites are #muckedUp, #wjchat, and Digital First Media’s #DFMchat.
Digital First Media’s Project Thunderdome recently did a live chat with The Wall Street Journal‘s Liz Heron where she talked about the future of social media in newsrooms, including forseeing the possible rise of a new digital position: Facebook SEO experts.
In addition to studying, one of the best ways to learn about the rapidly changing world of social and digital media engagement is to write about it. I’m still on the waiting list for Facebook’s new graph search feature, but in the mean time, I compiled a list of resources for journalists on how to use the new tool. When Frontline released its interactive documentary, Targeting the Electorate, I learned a lot about how marketers and political campaigns use social media activity to target information to users. I broke down my interactive results and explained them in a blog post .
All in all, social media engagement is a learned activity. Resources are plentiful and every social media activity is an exercise in skill building. For a quick summary of the chat, check out Joe Grimm’s five points:
You can also replay the entire chat at Poynter.org.
Facebook Graph Search: Resources for Journalists
Photo Credit: Business Insider
On January 15, Facebook rolled out its newest feature: graph search. Currently in beta, the new tool will allow users to finally utilize all of the info floating around Facebook -the tagged photos, the check-ins, the liked pages- by streamlining that info in a revolutionary approach to search. If you missed the media frenzy about the grand unveiling, Mashable immortalized the launch event on its live blog.
Facebook’s current search pretty much limits Facebook users to search for people, places, and things. With graph search, Facebook users can add context to search terms to find more specific results. For example, type “restaurants in Atlanta” into the white bar at the top of your Facebook profile, and the results will include a list of Facebook pages of restaurants in the city. With graph search, Facebook users will be able to type “seafood restaurants in Atlanta my friends have been to” and the results will include Facebook friends who like certain seafood restaurant pages, friends’ check-ins at seafood restaurants, and possibly even Facebook statuses about seafood restaurants. Molly McHugh of Digital Trends calls graph search “the realization of social search”.
Facebook’s new search feature sounds good for finding which college friends studied abroad in South Africa in 2009, but journalists can also use the super savvy search features for newsgathering.
Vadim Lavrusik, Facebook’s journalism program manager, described the useful features of graph search on the Facebook + Journalists page:
“This new tool will make it easier for journalists to discover potential sources and public photos around stories you’re reporting.
It will also make it easier to learn about places and interests that are not only tied to friends but also public figures and pages”
The early version of graph search focuses on four main areas: photos, people, places, and interests. Lavrusik also writes that the tool will also make it easier for journalists to do 3 things:
1) Perform richer searches when trying to find an expert for a story or trying to connect with other journalists.
2) Find public photos within a specific location or topic.
3) Conduct searches based on other people’s interests
Nieman Lab also compiled a mashup of articles about Facebook’s new feature, including a Search Engine Land article describing the difference between Facebook’s graph search and Google search. Google might be Facebook’s biggest competition, but Facebook search isn’t necessarily better than Google search. Rather, graph search is a new type of search that can’t be performed on Google or any other type of search engine. Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan writes ” with Facebook’s graph search, the objects we search for aren’t web pages but instead virtual representations of real world objects: people, places, and things.”
Wired delves father into the dramatic difference between Google search and Facebook graph search, explaining that graph search works better the more specific and complex the request. With Google, users typically experience success by using broad queries and few keywords. With graph search, the more complicated the query, the more specific and complex the result.
In a blog post last week, Muck Rack outlined suggestions on how journalists can prepare to use graph search. In addition to joining the waiting list (remember, graph search is in beta and the early bird gets the worm) tips include activating Facebook subscribe and double checking Facebook’s privacy settings.
Updated January 28, 12: 17
How I made a social media supplement on Storify
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been looking for a way to present my skills in digital and social media. Today, I created a social media supplement on Storify.
The supplement contains:
- a bio
- a brief overview of my skills
- short and long-term career goals
- influential twitter followers
- links to digital/ social media profiles
- key social media interactions
For a while, I’ve needed a way to present my knowledge of social media, curation, blogging, and web content production. I have a growing digital footprint, including more than 2,000 followers on Twitter. While I consider myself relatively likeable, significantly less than 50 of my followers are actually flesh and blood friends of mine.
All jokes aside, there are just some experiences I can’t communicate well enough on a paper resume. Since word on the web is that resumes may even become obsolete in a few years in favor of digital footprints, I figured there’s no better time than now to get cracking on another digital profile.
Here’s how I got started:
I’d seen articles about people making creative interactive resumes on social media sites like Pinterest , so I took to Google and entered the search terms “interactive resume” to find some helpful hints. The first result was a post from Media Bistro’s 10,000 Words blog: “How to Use Storify to Make an Interactive Resume“. The post profiled Scott Kubie, a copywriter who used Storify last year to create a resume showcasing his career experience creating content on and for the web.
I was pretty impressed with Scott’s story. Like Scott, I needed a creative way to show work I’ve done. I also wanted to go beyond paper to show my personality, including my attempts at humor (Hey, sometimes I can be pretty funny. Unfortunately, I can’t waste space on a resume with a line that says “sometimes I’m funny”). I’d been looking to create a version of a social media supplement since I came across Reuters deputy social media producer Matthew Keys’ PDF supplement a couple months ago. So, instead of chronicling my career history, I decided to exhibit my use of digital media by showing some key social media interactions I’ve had this year. Using Tospy and links to my digital profiles, I created a supplement that showcased social media reactions to some of my digital content.
Of course, this blog post wouldn’t be complete without a shameless networking plug.
I’m a multimedia journalist, and I’m learning to build web pages and program. Scott Kubie has done broadcast storytelling, produces web content, and does UX. Who knows, maybe our paths will cross and we can teach each other something (translation: I hope we can connect on Twitter via the follow button).
So that’s the background story of how and why I made a social media supplement on Storify! Tell me how I did! Let me know in the comments section, or send me a tweet!
-The Vibrant VJ
#MuckedUp Chat: Branding for Journalists
Tracking Hurricane Isaac? Here’s a list of helpful tools!
Looking to get up-to-date coverage of Hurricane Isaac? In addition to Twitter accounts, here’s a brief list of live blogs, interactive maps, and mobile apps for tracking Isaac.
Reuters live blog.
If you’re looking for one place online to get storm updates from a lot of different sources, try the Reuters blog. The frequently updating live blog includes tweets as well as links to live coverage from the three news stations in New Orleans. In addition to Isaac coverage, the blog also has links to resources such as the American Red Cross Find a Shelter and Family Locator. Need to update your knowledge about hurricanes? Reuters has links to both the definition of hurricane watches and types of hurricane categories.
Hurricane Isaac Interactive Crisis Map by Google Maps
The Google Crisis Response Team created an interactive map that gives severe weather alerts and resources for states expected to be affected by Isaac. Designed with radar and cloud imagery, the map tracks the storm’s progress. The Official Google Blog lists the map’s features, including:
- Isaac’s current location and projected path
- Weather updates
- Emergency evacuation information
- Storm related Youtube videos
Nola.com, The Times- Picayune website, features the map without the storm clouds and radar.
Here’s a few individual Twitter accounts giving updates on the hurricane.
State officials:
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu: @MayorLandrieu
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal: @BobbyJindal
News outlets and reporters:
Reporter Brendan McCarthy: @Bmccarthywwl
WWL TV: @WWLTV
WGNO TV: @WGNOTV
WVUE: @WVUEfox8
The Times- Picayune and NOLA.com: @NOLAnews
You can also find a live feed to the Twitter accounts of all of The Times-Picayune reporters covering Isaac on NOLA.com .
The Weather Channel:
The Weather Channel: @weatherchannel and @twcBreaking
The Weather Channel Hurricane Central: @TWC_hurricane
Last but not least, if you’re looking to do some hurricane tracking with a mobile app, CNN came out with a list of 6 mobile apps for tracking tropical storms and hurricanes. One of the newest apps on the list is the American Red Cross Hurricane App, which has location-based weather alerts and locations of open Red Cross shelters. The app also has a mobile “toolkit” including a flashlight, strobe light, and an audible alarm.
This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, just a few of my favorites. If you have any others I should add to this post, tweet me at @ShaunaReporter.
NBC Los Angeles Twitter Project Looks Back at 1992 LA Riots
Naturally, I’m a big fan of combining journalism and social media. Social media is transforming journalism, especially since more people are getting their news from Twitter and Facebook than from many other “traditional” news sources. Twitter is a great tool for real time coverage of breaking news and monitoring digital conversations. Or in the case of Trayvon Martin, launching a little known local story out of obscurity and into the headlines of national news.
But outside of using hashtags for audience engagement or curating social media content for multimedia stories, I’ve been yearning to see a creative social media project from a news source.
After seeing NBC LA’s project, LA Riots: 20 Years Later, I’m saying “Finally!”
The NBC station in Los Angeles is asking ”What if Twitter existed in 1992?” and “live tweeting the past” with @RealTimeLARiots, a twitter account created to simulate real-time tweets about activity before, during, and after the LA Riots.
Here’s the wow factor: each tweet corresponds to the actual date, time and sometimes minute of the events that unfolded back in 1992.
Launched on April 20 @RealTimeLARiots is currently covering the final days in the trial of Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno, the four officers accused of beating Black motorist Rodney King.
Court Update: 4 LAPD officers opt for all-or-nothing verdict.
#RodneyKing#Trial— Real Time LA Riots (@RealTimeLARiots) April 20, 2012
The account chronicles the events in the courtroom, including tweeting jury deliberation times and actual quotes.
Defendant
#LaurencePowell‘s attorney says officers were doing their duty.— Real Time LA Riots (@RealTimeLARiots) April 21, 2012
#MichaelStone: “Everything every one of these officers did out there that night was done in good faith and for a good reason.”— Real Time LA Riots (@RealTimeLARiots) April 21, 2012
#BREAKING: Jury begins deliberations in#RodneyKing beating trial.— Real Time LA Riots (@RealTimeLARiots) April 23, 2012
The tweets even cover activity outside of the courthouse.
#Heckler to # TimothyWind outside courthouse: “I hope you get 20 years.”— Real Time LA Riots (@RealTimeLARiots) April 28, 2012
Outside courthouse
#LaurencePowell: “My days as a police officer are over” whatever the verdict.— Real Time LA Riots (@RealTimeLARiots) April 28, 2012
On April 29 at 3:15 pm, corresponding to the date and time in 1992, @RealTimeLAriots will tweet the verdict of the trial, which acquitted 3 of the officers, triggering the first events of the riots.
After that tweet, the account will shift its focus to covering the escalating chaos of the riots by tweeting archive footage and photos, as well as breaking news of events as they unfolded.
I’m really excited to watch this fascinating project develop over the weekend and continue throughout the coming weeks. Judging by the responses to the project, I’m sure @RealTimeLARiots will lead the Twittersphere in making the Los Angeles Riots a trending topic over the next week.
-The Vibrant VJ
Will you be following the twitter buzz about the LA riots? Let me know @ShaunaReporter!
The Vibrant VJ 
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