'Social Media as a Reporting Tool Presentation for NABJ Digital Task Force Webinar

1. Social Media as a Reporting Tool
NABJ DJTF Webinar
Niketa Patel | Social Media Product Manager | CNNMoney
Twitter: @Niketa
#NABJ #DJTF

2. Social @ CNNMoney
Goals:
• Referral Traffic
• Engagement
• Conversation
Platforms:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Linkedin
• StumbleUpon
• Tumblr
• Instagram
• Storify
• Stocktwits

3. Social Media Stats
• Social media has disrupted media landscape like no other medium.
• Facebook now has 900 million users and is a publicly traded
company
• Twitter is said to have more than 140 million active users producing
more than 340 million tweets a day.
• Instagram has over 80 million users and has officially been acquired
by Facebook.
• Social Media is also slowly but surely helping to increase referral
traffic for some media sites
• For example, The Atlantic says 40% of their traffic now comes from
social media
• On the flip side - Pew Study: Facebook users get 70% of news links
from friends and family, not from news organizations -
The State of the News Media 2012

4. .
• Facebook is a huge traffic driver!
• Journalists can post content and ask questions to create a
conversation
• Post a variety of content spread out evenly overtime. Images and
slideshows & video perform very well.
• Take advantage of Timeline – brands are highlighting historic news
events. Journalists can showcase stories, projects, etc
• Enable Subscribe on your FB page. Subscribe allows you to share
stuff selectively or publicly – For example, Poppy Harlow
• Interest Lists – Create lists based on a certain topic or enable other
people to follow like minded people, newsrooms i.e. CNNMoney List
• Groups – find groups based on your beat or interests to join
conversations and interact with others. There are a lot of journalism
ones also: Social, Mobile Journalism and Social TV for example.

5. .
• Build a following by posting a variety of content, retweet, reply,
favorite.
• Follow fellow journalists, sources, competition (media org. accounts
and journalists with the same beat.)
• Stick to 120 characters in tweets instead of 140 characters so
people can easily add a comment and retweet you.
• Exercise caution when retweeting – ensure information is accurate.
Verify information first.
• Use hashtags to follow events, stories & gain visibility and such as
#Egypt, #Occupy, #Greece, #Syria, etc.
• Use Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to manage lists, scheduling, etc
• Create Lists: Twitter’s Guide to Lists
• Do searches if you want to look up people or topics: (
search.twitter.com)
• Topsy: Search for timely and relevant tweets among other things.
• Bit.ly: URL shortening service. Add + at the end of a bit.ly link to see
analytics: cnnmon.ie/KvwaxV+

6. .
• Linkedin is often overlooked by journalists but it can be a great
source of traffic for niche sites.
• It’s ideal for scouting out potential sources and connecting with them
in a professional manner.
• Observe activity on company pages or individual pages to see who’s
switching jobs or hiring for story ideas.
• Powerful Search Tool: Search for people, companies, groups
• Answers: Q&A tool where people are likely to be more genuine
since it’s tied to their real identities.
• Join the Linkedin for Journalists group ran by Krista Canfield for tips
and tricks on how to use LI more effectively.
• Take one of their webinars and you will be upgraded to an executive
account for a year for free.
• Executive level: InMail, better search capabilities, in-depth who’s
viewed your profile & more.

7. .
• Thriving photo sharing app that lets users add filters and edit
images.
• Treasure trove of striking images from users that are both personal
and professional.
• News orgs. using it to crowd source images for breaking news
events: #ESBShooting or for major events - NBCNews:
#NBCOlympics. NBCNews reposts images on their account &
Tumblr blog.
• Campaign embeds posting images from the campaign trail which
adds good behind the scenes/color to coverage.
• Filters Debate
• Tags: Use existing tags or create new ones. #DNC2012,
#Election2012
• Statigram: Web viewer, reposts, stats and content management.
• SearchInstagram.com: Enter a tag and see all the images in a
stream.

8. • Burgeoning platform that comprises of digital cork boards
• Immense visual appeal for food, fashion, travel and lifestyle content
junkies.
• Top 10 traffic referrer for some sites
• Create boards and ‘pin’ or 'repin' content based on coverage and
interests.
• Ensure your pins lead back to your site, so that re-pins generate
referral traffic back to your site.
• News orgs joining to experiment ways to capture new audiences
• Showcase historic covers, newsroom staff, profiles, features,
slideshows. (Time, Today Show, NYT)
• Public Boards: Open up boards to the public to submit images like
AJC.

9. • Google's social platform • Popular geo-location tool
• Wild West? • Users check in to places
• Breakout feature: or venues to earn
Hangouts – Live video badges, rewards, tips.
chats • CNN, NYT & NBCNews
• Media orgs have seen launched profiles &
low engagement in badges early on
comparison but few • Journalists should check
exceptions in selectively based on
• Popular with small assignments/security.
businesses • Used for Olympics,
Elections

10. Q&A & G..
• Reddit claims to be the unofficial “front page of the Internet.”
• Reddit accrues 40 million visitors & 3.2 billion pageviews a month.
• Redditors post content and users can vote if they like the posts. The
more votes, the higher position on the site.
• Meme central and the secret sauce that fuels BuzzFeed's viral
content
• Breaking news curation tool – Aurora & Empire State Building
shootings
• Q&A forum (AMA – Ask Me Anything) for journalists, stars and now
politicians.
• President Obama jumped on the bandwagon 2 weeks ago to do an
impromptu AMA. It crashed their site and garnered 23k questions &
comments.

11. • Social blogging platform • Create social stories by
• Journalists use Tumblr to curating several types of social
share their stories, projects, media components across
etc platforms to create a narrative.
• You can follow people who • Numerous news organizations
cover the same beat or who have been using it plus
have similar interests as you. Whitehouse and UN are too.
Reblog them and they might
follow you back • Weave together compelling
• Tag your posts to gain visibility timelines for long form or
on tag pages by editors who breaking news stories.
curate them. Search for tags at • UGC: Collect user tweets,
http://www.tumblr.com/explore images, videos etc.
• Track feature: This can be • Great archival tool: Preserve
found in the side bar and it
helps you stay on top of posts social media elements,
in relevant tags. conversations, reaction, etc.

12. Other Emerging Platforms
Quora Storination
• Q&A site whereby users can ask a • New top level creation tool that
question or answer one to gain allows journalists to create a
visibility. storyboard of a group of Storify
• Journalists can become subject stories around a specific topic.
matter experts based on their • Create ‘Nations’ of Storify's.
beats or it can be a great resource • Beta - Invite only. Sign up at
for information. Storination.com
Storyful Rebel Mouse
• Social media news agency that • Social media home page
verifies content across social • Plug & play or curate.
media.
• Storyful.com/pro is a paid service • Customize your page to look like
and can be used to help confirm your personal website
reports and tweets you see on • News orgs slowly dipping their
social platforms. toes in it
• More sources to come.

13. RebelMouse

14. Resources
• Poynter Institute
• Nieman Lab
• ONA & ONA Local – Join or form a group in your area.
• NABJ, AAJA, SAJA, NAHJ, SPJ, etc.
• Knight Digital Media Center
• Muckrack.com
– Sign up for a free account and you can do searches based
on journalists, newsrooms, stories and beats.
– Sign up for their daily digest which highlights popular
articles among journalists. It also includes who’s hiring or
shifting jobs.
– Local meetups: They are kicking off networking events in
select cities so you can attend and/or offer to help organize
one too.

15. Jobs!
Lot of journalists, editors & What’s more, recruitment
recruiters post jobs on divisions for media companies
also have Twitter accounts
Facebook & Twitter all the too.
time.
Corporate Accounts:
Job Listings:
@TurnerCareers
@Tweetmyjobs @NBCUniCareers
@journalismjobs @ESPNCareers
@mbJobPost – Media Bistro @DIMGrecruiting
@mashablejobs @NYTimesRecruit
@socialmediajobs
@DMJNcom

16. Final Thoughts…
• Be Smart: If you wouldn't write something in a story or say it on air,
then don't tweet it! Follow your company’s social media guidelines.
• Credit: Give credit where credit is due – Builds relationships, trust
and linkage
• Link Economy: Share content from other sources too and they
might reshare your content too.
• SMO: (Social Media Optimization) Optimize your posts for maximum
benefit since social components are indexed across various
platforms.
• Transparency: If you post something that turns out to be false or
has a typo in it, then fess up! This helps you maintain credibility.
• Explore: Don’t be afraid to test out new platforms and apps so that
you can help to brainstorm ways for your newsroom to leverage
them. Become an early adopter!
Presentation Link: http://bit.ly/nabjdjtfsocial