Short presentation for distance learners on the MA in Online Journalism at Birmingham City University (week one)

1. Writing for social
media
MED7007: Online & Mobile Newsgathering, Production & Distribution

3. Who says you can’t do anything
with 140 characters?

4. Be professional.
Wear a tuxedo to Burger King.

5. http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/05/the-new-l-a-times-redesign-would-like-to-write-that-tweet-for-you-thank-you-very-much/
“Reporters will be asked to write
three pretweets with each
article”

6. What I’ll cover:
1. What makes users click on SM updates
2. Thinking beyond text: multimedia and
‘links’
3. The importance of testing and
measuring

7. What works?
..

8. “Photos give the biggest lift with
quotes coming in a close second.
Tweets containing numbers, a video url and hashtags also lead to double-digit boost.”
https://media.twitter.com/best-practice/news-the-impact-of-tweeting-with-photos-videos-hashtags-and-links

9. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/scientific-guide-posting-tweets-facebook-posts-emails-blog-posts-best-time/82749/

10. http://blog.sumall.com/journal/posting-dead-zones.html

11. “Folks who schedule their tweets
schedule at certain points. This is why
you should never tweet at the :00, :15,
:30 or :45 of the hour.”
http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/twitter-times_b9966

12. “Photos give the biggest lift with
quotes coming in a close second.
Tweets containing numbers, a video url and hashtags also lead to double-digit boost.”
http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-new-twitter-stats-twitter-statistics-to-help-you-reach-your-followers

13. “Photos give the biggest lift with
quotes coming in a close second.
Tweets containing numbers, a video url and hashtags also lead to double-digit boost.”
http://blog.bufferapp.com/a-scientific-guide-to-writing-great-headlines-on-twitter-facebook-and-your-blog

14. “A small amount of editorial effort was the difference between
one of the best tweets of the year and a headline from print
that was less effective in the context of social media”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/if-a-tweet-worked-once-send-it-again-and-other-lessons-from-the-new-york-times-social-media-desk/

15. “We don’t always need to try so hard to write an unforgettable
tweet, or one that tempts the reader too much. Clarity and
straightforwardness around interesting subject matter are
ultimately rewarded by substantial reader interest.”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/if-a-tweet-worked-once-send-it-again-and-other-lessons-from-the-new-york-times-social-media-desk/

16. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/the-facebook-effect-on-the-news/283746/
Twitter

17. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/the-facebook-effect-on-the-news/283746/
Facebook

18. Case studies
..

19. ●“If a tweet worked once, send it again
[on weekend]”
●“Don’t bother calling it a “rerun” or
apologizing to people who might have
seen it before. Simply wait a few hours
and change up the language.”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/if-a-tweet-worked-once-send-it-again-and-other-lessons-from-the-new-york-times-social-media-desk/
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/03/tweet-late-and-e-mail-early-using-data-to-develop-strategy/

20. “In the case of repeating a tweet four times in thirty-two hours,
there was a big spike for the first tweet, but the next three still yielded very good results.”
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/how-to-drive-traffic-with-repeat-tweets-1/

21. “In the case of repeating a tweet four times in thirty-two hours,
there was a big spike for the first tweet, but the next three still yielded very good results.”
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/160749/stats-show-how-to-increase-click-through-rates-on-your-tweets/

22. Beyond the link
Using Twitter as a journalist

23. "Letting our trusted reporters deliver
some news first [on Twitter] helps
them connect directly with an
interested audience, and delivers news
in a timely manner without sacrificing
our commitment to accuracy."
http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/if-a-tweet-worked-once-send-it-again-and-other-lessons-from-the-new-york-times-social-media-desk/

24. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/blogcollegeofjournalism/posts/Perfect-Twitter-for-journalists-Take-a-masterclass-from-ITVLauraK-

25. “Journalists who tweet 20% fewer links
— either links to their own stories or to
other online content — and 100%
percent more mentions, including
handles and @replies … actually grow
their following by more than 17% over
the long term.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/05/mark-luckie-twitter-not-getting-into-news-business

26. "There is obviously a correlation
between number of tweets and total
volume of traffic that goes to an article
… just not a relationship between
stories that are most heavily
consumed and stories that are most
heavily tweeted."
http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/14/5411934/youre-not-going-to-read-this

27. http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-measurement/new-research-finds-the-curation-vs-creation-sweet-spot/
“20% fewer clicks per post than Curators, but their conversion
rate is 10X higher. I’ll take that trade any day.”

28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsdvJI0AK5M

29. Key points recapped:
●Succinct, clear, engaging + verbs
●Add value through multimedia and links
- including hashtags and @ names
●Timing is key - but test what works

30. Knight & Cook: Social Media for
Journalists
Pinboard.in/u:paulbradshaw/t:twitter
See Moodle for links & reading
Further reading.

31. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/01/upshot/twitter-quiz.html

32. http://blog.newswhip.com/index.php/2014/07/turn-twitter-facebook-traffic-subscriptions-part-one
Advanced!