These are slides for a social media workshop for the Saskatchewan Media Guild.

1. Social Media:
Tools for Journos
Saskatchewan Media Guild
November 9, 2013
#SMGsocial

2. Read more about it
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stevebuttry.wordpress.com
slideshare.net/stevebuttry
@stevebuttry
stephenbuttry@gmail.com

3. You’re a journo, not a carrier

4. Social media toolbox
1. Livetweet events &
breaking news
2. Search
3. Crowdsource
4. Monitor community
conversation
5. Curate
6.
7.
8.
9.
Hashtags
Lists
Photos & videos
Embed content in
stories
10.Verification

5. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

6. •
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Many more users
Much info private
Tougher to search
Not as immediate
(less frequent
updates)
• Engage, don’t
intrude
• Great for breaking
news
• Great real-time
search
• Engagement not as
intrusive
• Hashtags help more
w/ search,
conversation

7. Getting started on
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Identify as a journalist in your profile
Upload a photo or logo as your avatar
Enable use w/ phone
Tweet a little before you start following
Don’t drink the whole stream
Integrate Twitter into your day

8. Organizing chaos
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Use Twitter lists
TweetDeck & HootSuite help organize
Mobile app
Check @ mentions
Twitter alerts
Save regular searches (can be columns in
TweetDeck, HootSuite)

9. Why use
here?
• More people in your community use
Twitter than you think
• They’re younger than newspaper readers
• Produces content for your website
• Powerful search function (find sources)
• Changes your newsroom culture
• Twitter rocks on breaking news

10. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

11. Livetweeting exercise
Need volunteers to:
• Play by play
• Commentary
• Links
• Photos
• Video (Vine, Tout)
#SMGsocial

12. Live-tweeting situations
• Trials
• Meetings
• Sporting events (staff and/or public tweets:
Friday Night Tweets)
• Festivals
• Breaking stories
Remember to feed site (ScribbleLive, etc.)

13. Livetweeting tips
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Don’t transcribe; observe & report
In sports, mix play-by-play & commentary
Use hashtag (& check & engage)
OK to pause for checking facts, names
Note significant pause (halftime, lunch)
Fun interludes, exchanges, anecdotes
Check facts before you hit “tweet”

25. Other live-coverage tools
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ScribbleLive, CoverItLive, LiveblogPro
Twitter widgets
U-Stream, Qik, Livestream
Google+ Hangout w/ YouTube
Storify (almost live if you update frequently)
Facebook (frequent posts can be annoying)

26. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

27. Social search
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Twitter advanced search
Facebook graph search
Search for keywords, hashtags, users
Search by location (but most tweets
aren’t geotagged)
• Use Geofeedia (more than just tweets)
• Big news? Search: Holy shit, WTF

45. Tips for finding tweets
• Search (Twitter advanced, Google, Topsy,
twXplorer) for keywords, location
• Check followers & timelines (replies, RTs)
• Expand tweets to see conversation
• Check profiles
• Follow; DM or tweet asking for interview
• Make screen grabs (they might delete)

48. Searching tips
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Search for people suddenly in the news
Great for searching for sources, groups
Tougher to search posts (many are private)
Messages will go into “other” box; better to
post on wall or seek mutual friends

49. • Excellent search engine
• Search for keywords on résumés
• Search by employer (& former
employer)
• Mutual contacts can introduce

50. • Foursquare “mayor” may be employee
or loyal customer of biz or venue
• Who has “checked in” at event, scene
• Check Reddit for discussion of your
topic (for tips, don’t assume info is
verified)

51. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

52. Crowdsourcing tips
• Say what you know, what you need to
know
• Don’t ask for help; invite people to tell
their stories, share their photos
• Reach broader audience (hashtags, ask on
FB pages of groups w/ interests)

53. Crowdsourcing tips
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Use Facebook, Twitter, G+, website, paper
Search & crowdsource simultaneously
Be careful about repeating rumors
Invite contact (phone, email)

62. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

63. Monitor conversation
• Follow officials, activists on beat
• Searches, alerts for people & keywords
on beat
• Save location searches for breaking-news
terms (fire, emergency, siren)
• Save local searches
• Join conversation

64. People to follow
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Look for sources (find people)
Ask sources
Journalists in other communities
When someone follows you, check out to
see whether you should follow back
• When you follow someone, check whom
they follow
• Tweeps mentioned in interesting tweets

71. Monitoring tools
• Pinterest (especially in food, fashion,
travel, crafts, entertainment)
• YouTube (do agencies, people in
community have YouTube channels?)
• SlideShare (are people telling more on
slides than they’re telling you?)
• Reddit

72. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

73. What is curation?
Museum curator:
• Studies topic
• Chooses relevant
content (other
sources & museum
collection)
• Authenticates
• Groups related items
• Provides context
• Presents exhibit
Journalism curator:
• Studies topic
• Chooses relevant
content (social
media, blogs, staff)
• Authenticates
• Groups related items
• Provides context
• Presents collected
content

74. NPR’s Andy Carvin
“I think curation has always been a
part of journalism; we just didn't call it
that.” – quoted in The Atlantic by
Phoebe Connelly

75. Curation
Situations
Tools
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Reaction story
Public event
Second screen
Breaking story
Storify
Spundge
Geofeedia
RebelMouse

76. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

77. Lists
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Organize beat by lists
Lists save time
TweetDeck, HootSuite
Create list for story (who’s tweeting
about it?)
• Embed list in story or blog post

92. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

93. #Hashtags
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Regular hashtags
Event hashtags
Breaking news
Cause hashtags
Humorous

94. #Hashtag tips
• Use existing hashtag if there is one
• Search before launching hashtag (avoid
duplication)
• Look for secondary hashtags, especially
in events or breaking news
• Hashtags help find witnesses & other
sources

95. #notjustonTwitter
• Effective on Instagram & Tout, too
• Work on Facebook, but have not caught
on yet

104. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

117. Photo curation
Photo sites: Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest,
Picasa (don’t forget Facebook, Twitter)
Finding photos: Search, Geofeedia,
hashtags, ask community to submit
Curation tools: Geofeedia, Storify,
Spundge, Olapic, embed codes
Make contact & ask for more!

118. Video curation
YouTube: strong search engine, most are
embeddable
Quick video sites: Instagram (15 seconds), Tout
(15 seconds, 45 for pro accounts), Vine (6
seconds)
Finding photos: Search, Geofeedia, hashtags,
ask community to submit
Curation tools: Geofeedia, Storify, Spundge

119. Tout vs. Instagram vs. Vine
Tout
• 15 seconds (or 45)
• Widgets
• Multiple social
platforms
• Channels
• Import from camera roll
or hard drive
Vine
• 6 seconds
• Can’t edit or import
Instagram
• Filters
• Huge user base
• May add more features

120. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

121. Why embed content?
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Accuracy
Attribution
Authenticity
Interactivity
Visual impact
Actual voices

122. What can you embed?
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Public Tweets & Facebook posts
Videos (YouTube, Vimeo, Tout, Instagram)
Photos (Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest …)
Slides & documents (Scribd, SlideShare,
DocumentCloud)
• Curation (Storify, ScribbleLive,
RebelMouse)

128. Social media = journo tool
1.
2.
3.
4.
Live coverage
Search
Crowdsourcing
Monitor
conversation
5. Curate
conversation
6.
7.
8.
9.
Lists
Hashtags
Photos, videos
Embed content
in your stories
10. Verify facts

132. Vetting & verifying
• Track back RTs, etc.
to source
• Look for clusters
• Location enabled?
• Evaluate the network
• Evaluate the history
• Links, photos?
• Take it old school
• Disclose, hedge,
repeat
• Be brave only in
correction
Tips from Craig Silverman, Regret the Error

133. Evaluating tweeps
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How long have they been tweeting?
Check previous tweets, interaction
Check bio, links
Check Klout score
Google name and scam, spammer
Contact & interview
Tips from Mandy Jenkins, Zombie Journalism

135. Ethical issues
• Identify yourself as a journalist w/
Leader-Post (or whatever is your org)
• Behave professionally on personal
accounts
• Be personable on pro accounts
• Discuss w/ editor whether opinion is
appropriate

136. Social fame is fleeting

137. CT Twitter study:
• Newsroom accounts mostly heads & links
• @5thDistrictCT conversational (links to
competition, RTs, replies, great info)
• @5thDistrictCT = 2x to 10x more referrals
per Twitter follower

138. Tips for being conversational:
• Monitor @ mentions & reply (answer
questions, thank for links, address critics)
• Make link posts conversational
• RT competition, community bloggers
• Ask questions

139. engagement

141. Why converse w/ no link?
• Question invites conversation
• Engagement w/ question boosts
views/engagement on subsequent links
• Builds brand, gain followers
• Do you enjoy conversation w/ people
always calling attention to themselves?

142. Writing benefits of Twitter
• Paste lead into tweet box. If it’s >140,
challenge whether it’s too long
• 140 characters gives great practice at
getting to the point

143. Read more about it
•
•
•
•
stevebuttry.wordpress.com
slideshare.net/stevebuttry
@stevebuttry
stephenbuttry@gmail.com