ISOJ 2013

1. Excellence in Journalistic Use
of Social Media Through the Eyes
of Social Media Editors
David A. Craig &
Mohammad Yousuf
Gaylord College, University of Oklahoma

2. Purpose & Contribution
• Purpose is to explore what constitutes
excellence in journalistic use of social media.
• The study contributes to the understanding of
excellence and ethical challenges in social
media at a time when best practices are not a
settled matter.

3. Reviewed Areas of Literature
• Meaning of Excellence in Journalism
• Role of Social Media in Journalism
• Ethical Issues and Challenges in Journalistic
Use of Social Media
• MacIntyre’s Theory of a Practice

4. Theoretical Framework
Alasdair MacIntyre’s theory of a practice explains how
standards of excellence in a field advance as the
practitioners pursue excellence.
According to MacIntyre (2007):
• A practice is a social venture.
• Excellence depends on standards rooted in best traditions
of a practice.
• Pursuing excellence leads to distinctive achievements, or
internal goods, and reshapes the meaning of excellence.
• Excellence requires virtues.
• External goods (e.g. profit or status) threaten the process.

5. RQ & Method
RQ: How do social media editors
understand the meaning of excellence in
journalistic use of social media?
Method:
Interviews with social media editors. The
authors interviewed seven editors.
Interviews of two others were collected from
the Internet.

6. Social media editors interviewed
by authors
• Eric Carvin, AP
• Chris Hamilton, BBC
• Matthew Keys, Reuters
• Craig Kanalley, The Huffington Post
• Lauren McCullough, breakingnews.com
• Meghan Peters, Mashable
• Daniel Victor, The New York Times

7. Journalists interviewed by others
• Liz Heron, The Wall Street Journal
• Andy Carvin, NPR

8. Findings
5 elements of excellence:
• Adherence to traditional accuracy standards
with recognition of a new environment
• Sophistication in verification practices
• Sophistication in engagement
• Tailoring use of social platforms
• Adding value by being human (in use of
tools and in transparency)

9. Traditional accuracy standards
recognizing new environment
• Commitment to accuracy and verification
• Varying levels of comfort with “process journalism” (Jarvis)
Daniel Victor, New York Times:
Showing the "sausage making" of journalism is sometimes
valuable, sometimes not.

10. Sophistication in verification
practices
• Multifaceted set of practices
• Use journalistic judgment – e.g., evaluating Twitter
accounts, history, retweets
• Combine with technological tools – "forensic side"
(Hamilton of BBC)

11. Sophistication in engagement
• Beyond engagement for its own sake.
• Building communities by connecting in a way that is
valuable to the community.
• Drawing users into the reporting process.
• Long-term commitment.
Kanalley, The Huffington Post:
"It's over a long period of time that you build up a
community and you build up engagement."

12. Tailoring use of platforms
• Consider their strengths and their audiences
• Facebook for conversation, people's stories and
voices
• Twitter for updating, curating, listening
• Monitor development of the audiences and
capabilities of new platforms

13. Adding value by being human
• Human choices that make the most of platforms'
capabilities – e.g., "hashtag science" on Twitter
(Heron of Wall Street Journal)
• Transparency from individual journalists to admit
mistakes and provide a "looking glass" into what
they do (Keys of Reuters)

14. Discussion
• Study provides insight into how journalism as a
practice (MacIntyre) may be developing as
journalists integrate social media into their work.
• Development of verification and engagement
approaches expands capacity for story
development and conversation.
• Pursuing the five elements of excellence
identified can advance "internal goods" such as
inquiry and fostering of community.