An overview of social photo/video tools, with ideas, tips and examples, aimed at reporters and photographers.

1. Social Photo and Video Tools for News
Mandy Jenkins, mandyjenkins@gmail.com
Overview: Mobile photo tools like Instagram and Vine are extremely popular with
audiences. While they may not be traffic drivers, they are a key element of any
news brand when it comes to photography.
Milestone:
Video: Instagram videos are 15 seconds maximum. Another tool that is gowing
in popularity is Tout, which can have 15 seconds on free accounts and up to 45
for paid accounts.
Filters: Using photo filters and other editing tools on Instagram and other social
services should be regarded the same way as Photoshop use on news photos.
Some news organizations opt to ban the use of these editing tools on breaking
news images, but allow it for features and studio shots. Others just stipulate their
use must be identified in captions.
Copyright: While these social media services do not claim any copyright
ownership over your images, you do grant them the right to use those images
however they wish.
Watermarking: If you want to make sure your credit is on images across social
media, add watermarks with: MyPix (iPhone), Add Watermark (Droid), PicMarkr
(Web) or Visual Watermark (Mac or Windows)
Getting Started
Set up an account and link it to your Twitter and Facebook accounts – cross
sharing images will draw audience.
Use hashtags: Hashtags on Instagram and Tout are the same as on Twitter –
they tie images together that have a common theme (#Christmas), event or place
(i.e. #Spokane). Using hashtags gets many more people seeing your images.
Be part of the community: Do hashtag and location searches on gramfeed.com
and follow local users. Like and comment on their photos. They’ll follow you
back.
Republishing: You need to get permission for the paper to use a photo on the site
or in print. Content them in the photo comments. You can also use tools like
Storify to display Instagrams on the site.

2. Ideas
Take some shots at local events and use a common keyword hashtag to tie them
all together. Encourage readers to she their own with the same hashtag, which
would make it easy to curate them all together into a slideshow on the site.
Share a favorite image from your day of assignments or on a daily story. Be sure
to add a caption and credit, link back to a related story or photo gallery on the
site if there is one.
Hold photo contests for readers and others in the community around events or
themes. The Chicago Tribune is great at this.
Make quick videos to explain a news event, show a scene or preview a longer
story or interview. You can shoot and stitch multiple scenes together in the Tout
and Instagram apps. (You can also upload videos produced elsewhere)
Examples
Chicago Tribune: http://instagram.com/chicagotribune/
Chico Enterprise-Record: http://instagram.com/chicoer
NowThis News (video): http://instagram.com/nowthisnews
NY Times Fashion: http://instagram.com/nytimesfashion
East Bay Gazette: http://instagram.com/eastbayri
USA Today: http://instagram.com/usatoday
Jane Tyksa, Contra Costa Times: http://www.tout.com/u/Tyska
Jason Halley, Chico Enterprise-Record: http://www.tout.com/u/jasonhalley_er
Denver Post Tout: http://www.tout.com/channels/denver-post