Social Media and Journalism

BY: KIM GARST

INTRODUCTIONSocial media has impacted our lives in so many ways and many people don’t realize the full impact it has.

Journalists in the last 5-10 years have made a shift with the ever-growing popularity of social media. There is no such thing as “breaking news” anymore because chances are the story has already been circulating on social media long before news channels and news sources can post anything about it.

So how do you stand out in this world of social media as a source of authentic news and become someone who others turn to first? It begins with finding your “voice” on social media.

Things We Will Cover…Why Social Media?

Social Media’s Impact on Journalism

Ways Journalists are Using Social Media

How Can YOU Use Social Media

How to Find Your “Voice”

Relationships FIRST! Connect with People!

Showcase Your Work and Share Others’

Contribute to Discussions in Your Industry

Use Tools That Relate to Your Field

Building a Personal Brand and Marketing YOU as a Journalist

Why social media?Here are some statistics from 2014…

Active

Facebook: 1+ BillionGoogle+: 540 MillionLinkedIn: 300 MillionTwitter: 241 Million

Instagram: 200 MillionPinterest: 20 Million

- Leverage New Age Media

# Of

73%

Of online adults use social

networking sites.- Infographaholic

54%

of Facebook users access the site via a mobile device. This is the case for most social

media sites.- Visual.ly

Users

In 1 MINUTE

208,300 photos are posted on

Facebook

510,000 photos liked

on Instagram

MOBILE USE HAS INCREASED BY

700% BETWEEN 2011 & 2014

Impact on journalism & the newsTo give you some background on social media and its impact on news…

50%

of people have learned about

breaking news via social media rather than

official news sources.

Over

27.8% 59.5%

of people who get their news on social media get

it from Facebook, followed by

Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and

Other.

34%

Of those who get their news on

Facebook “like” a news

organization, individual

journalist or commentator- Pew Research Center

49.1%

Of people have heard breaking news via social

media that turned out to be

false.

However…

*See the full infographic HERE.

Of people turn to social media over

other sources (like TV,

newspapers, radio, other print, etc.) to get their news updates.

Ways journalists are using social media

68%Use it to find out

what people are talking

about.*

59%Use it to

share their personal opinion.*

80%

Use it to promote

themselves and their work.**

70%

Use it to connect

with their audience.**

** via Skyword* via ING

Besides using social media to find a story idea or check for breaking news, journalists also use social media for a number of other reasons:

How can YOU use social media?• Develop a “voice” for your social presence

• Connect with and build RELATIONSHIPS with people (start now!)

• Begin showcasing your work but also sharing others’ to help grow your network

• Contribute to discussions in your industry• Blogs, Tweetchats, Forums

• Focus on the tools that relate to your chosen field• Ex: Video journalists should focus on tools like YouTube, Vimeo, Vine and Instagram. Those that will

be sourcing content should be familiar with tools like Storify, RebelMouse and Del.i.cious.

How to find your “voice”Your social “voice” is made up of many things: expertise, the tone in your messaging, what types of content you share and your personal posts (those matter!)

Never forget to add your personal pieces in there as this will help every

day people connect with who YOU are!

Expertise Messaging Tone Content Personal Piece

Make sure your personality comes through in what you post

The types of content you share will shape your “voice”

Be the go-to source for certain information

I know what I’m talking

about…

This is what I LOVE talking

about…

Connect with people!What’s the point of being on social media and putting in all this effort if no one engages with you or you don’t engage with others?

By engaging with your followers you are taking things one step further and creating a community based around similar interests and beliefs.

What do you think about…

I think that…

Hmm, I disagree.

Oh, man! Love ‘em!

Showcase your work and share others’It’s not enough to share your own work and, in fact, ONLY sharing your work can make it seem like the only thing you care about is posting your thoughts. It would be like a business owner that only posts about his/her product and nothing else.

Sharing the content of other people in your space or those that have similar interests/thoughts as you (or even drastically different ones) is a great way to not only differentiate your posts but also tap into THEIR followers!

Check out thisgreat post from @thisjournalist!

What do you think?

@suchandsuch is now following you(also following @similarjournalist)

@morepeeps is now following you(also following @similarjournalist)

@onemore is now following you(also following @similarjournalist)

Contribute to discussions in your industry

This goes back to positioning yourself as a thought-leader in your industry. The more you can provide value-based feedback on topics in the news industry or a specific area of news, the better!

You’ll start to see an influx of followers that like what you have to contribute and relate to your opinions and stances.

The job is in the TOOLS!Having a large following on YouTube won’t mean nearly as much to a content writer as it will to someone who is going into video journalism.

Likewise, someone whose job will be based mostly in video might not get nearly as much success out of using content creation and bookmarking tools like Storify.

For those looking to go into broadcast news, you may find that you’ll use a wide range of tools since you will probably do a little bit of everything at one point in time.

Stay focused but try new things!

80% OF YOUR TIME, SPENT ON TOP 10 BEST TOOLS

20% OF THE TIME, SPENT ON TRYING NEW THINGS

Workflow on Social Media

Publish/Engage/Analyze

Finding the STORY Feedly.com – great feed-reader!

Nuzzel.com – monitors news shared by friends and influencers on social media

Newsle.com – monitor news ABOUT friends and connections online

GetPrismatic.com – news based on your interests and connections

IFTT – if this then that (happens)1. Send tweets with a certain hashtag to a Google doc spreadsheet

2. Get daily emails with tweets that are location specific

3. Get a text if someone specific emails you

4. Archive your pictures on Dropbox.com

5. Link Feedly.com to Evernote

6. Build a Twitter list from a specific hashtag

7. much, much more!

https://en.mention.com/

https://www.google.com/alerts

In print you are a faceless byline

Online…

You ARE WHAT YOU SHARE in an authentic way!

Stories, videos, resume, comments, tweets, books and music you read, personal

experiences, etc.

If you share that you are an employee of XYZ company, you become a brand ambassador for that company

www.kimgarst.com

twitter.com/kimgarst

facebook.com/kimgarstboomsocial

linkedin.com/in/kimgarst

pinterest.com/kimgarst

Instagram.com/kimgarst

Question Time!