Tech Talk 2012 Incorporating Social Media in Journalism Instruction Michelle Carr Hassler College of Journalism and Mass Communications

Social media/tech tools Twitter RSS Social bookmarking Organization – Dropbox & GoogleDocs Multimedia class blog, which offers resources and a place where students post story pitches Jing for providing audio feedback

Twitter use More than 175 million users.175 million users Up from 58 million in Adding 370,000 a day!

How journalists use it Engage audiences, create community. Connect with people, sources. Develop personal brands. Link to their work. Crowd source content. Get questions answered. Provide real time news.

How students can use it Following leaders in industry and the academy. Staying current. Connect and network with professionals or other students. Research and find sources. Collaborate. Study it as a way to distribute news. Practice distributing news through Twitter.

Research Many intelligent people are tweeting and willing to share their ideas. Insight into the social aspects of communication. Gain background for interviewing or writing Verify information Develop story ideas

Twitter as a news source News travels fast. Osama bin Ladens death: 12.4 million tweets an hour. Sense of immediacy.

Live tweet assignment for capstone multimedia journalism course Students have to select an event or speech to cover live by tweeting about it on the colleges news site Twitter account. After tweeting the story, they have to write a follow-up story and post that to the colleges news website. Booklet with live tweet assignment Booklet Rubric for live tweet assignment Rubric

How it worked Real world examples Practice assignment Targeted types of stories Other reporting tools -- RSS

Live tweeting principles Live twitter stream is considered a story – it needs a beginning, middle and end. Use a hashtag. Automatically groups tweets identified with that hashtag, making topic search easy. How to demonstrate hashtags: – Twitterfall Twitterfall – Hootsuite Hootsuite

Live tweeting principles Each tweet should cover one point at a time. Think subjects, verbs (like headlines). Strive to make each an understandable, self- contained message. Be a careful observer and have an eye open for novel and important information that might be relevant to your audience.

Live tweeting tips Use good grammar. Punctuate for clarity. Always be professional. Avoid using exclamation points, emoticons, jargon and slang (including LOL)

Ethics still apply Verify before you Tweet. Verify before you Tweet Admit what you dont know. Credit what youre using. Remember its public. Tweets can be libelous. Tweets can be libelous

What didnt work Follow-ups were tricky Mechanical errors Photos were weak Logistics failed at times

Why it matters They learn social media tools They use mobile tools They learn to be discerning They learn power of immediacy

How it can be used in other classes Editing practice: Mimics headlines Reporting: Reinforces basics Great way to practice brevity and clarity in any type of writing writing

How can be used in other classes Study new narrative forms Tweet a day – a running diary; followed by a compilation or a new perspective Fiction writing via Twitter Fiction writing – Writing very short fiction is not new. Ernest Hemingway once wrote the following six-word story: – For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Twitter: A research and reporting tool Brain picking – Muck Rack is compiled of real-time Twitter activity by journalists. Muck Rack – Top 50 creative writers on Twitter. Top 50 creative writers on Twitter – Connect with writers, editors, publishers on Twitter Connect with writers, editors, publishers on Twitter – We Follow – theology; politics We Follow theologypolitics – Twitter lists Twitter lists To help with reporting and/or research by – Quickly learning about the topic and staying current – News21 food safety project. – Finding sources – Developing story ideas and paper topics

Hashtags Study the ways communities communicate Pulse on communities – #LNK – #UNL – #OMA – #immigration

Other Twitter resources Mashables guide Twitter for Journalists 20 Tips for Journalists 10,000 Words Twitter etiquette 10 commandments Twitter for newsrooms #TfN

Learning about a topic and staying current RSS readers help you quickly get up to speed on a subject It pushes information to you and is a one- stop shop for – Blogs – Web sites – Searches – Twitter feeds

RSS Readers Google Reader – My Google Reader My Google Reader

Social bookmarking – Keep online documents organized and have quick access to them – Offer a streamlined way to collaborate and share information – you dont have to separate links – Help with discovery by allowing you to search the bookmarks of others interested in the topic

Social bookmarking Delicious

Using social media digital tools Digital tools links Michelles multimedia course blogmultimedia course blog