Social media

The very best way, of course, to get an overview of social media and to see how you can use Facebook and Twitter and the like is to come to one of TCCJ's workshops (And you're in luck, because another is scheduled for the University of Texas at Tyler on July 21). But here's a nice summary of how individual journalists and newspapers are using Facebook. It also includes a look at some of the ethical issues we have to deal with when we begin to use social media at our newspapers.

Here's a blog you'll definitely want to follow. It's by Broc Sears of the Center's staff; Broc is also a professional in residence in new media at the Schieffer School of Journalism. Broc is leading a team of students who are redesigning the Daily Skiff at TCU, but he has done something that lots of community papers can emulate when they do a redesign -- he is blogging the redesign, asking the campus community for input. A university is much like a small community, and a university newspaper is community journalism -- TCU, for instance, has a campus community of about 10,000 students, faculty and staff. Broc and the redesign team have taken the campus community on the redesign journey, and it's very much worth following. It's amazing how much the campus has followed the blog -- it's a great way to get the community to identify with the newspaper and to buy in to the whole redesign effort. When it's all over, Broc will be writing a blog for the TCCJ website on how, and why, to do a redesign "in public," but for right now, this one is worth following.

At the Center, we talk a lot about the Web and social media as being platforms that Texas newspapers cannot afford to ignore. Some believe us; some don’t. But please take four minutes and 22 seconds to look at this video – and remember that those who put none of their eggs in the new media basket will come to regret that decision. Not in 20 to 30 years, or when their grandchildren are grown, but probably in the foreseeable future. So give this a look and think about its implications. And if you’re motivated to action, one such action might be to sign up for our workshop May 27 on developing a Facebook strategy for your paper.

So you've found a video on YouTube that you'd like to use on your Web site or you're interested in writing a story about. What are the ethical considerations and how do you decide if it's worth covering? What are your legal responsibilities from accepting video from a user? Leah Betancourt, the digital community manager at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, has all of those answers in this post.

In a Q&A with an online digital marketing journal, BusinessWeek's John Byrne elaborates on some of the company's user engagement efforts, many of which would carry over well to community newspapers. He talks about how BusinessWeek leverages readers' knowledge in creative ways from crowdsourcing questions to guest columns.

A what, you ask? My newspaper needs a Facebook strategy? Yes, you do. And the fact that you do is symptomatic of the changes that are engulfing today’s community journalism. This article will take only a few minutes to read, but it overviews the issue, including some ideas on monetizing your Facebook presence.

So if you think the Twitter trend is overplayed or just "don't get it" when it comes to the microblogging service you're not alone. A Harris poll indicates 69% of adults don't know enough about Twitter to have an informed opinion about it. Mashable has the full report posted. If you're curious about Twitter, just click the Twitter tag under the Topics section on our Around the Web page for some Twitter info.

Steve Buttry from the from Gazette Communications in Iowa posted a tip sheet for journalists on how to use Twitter. He covers everything from breaking news to linking to figuring out who to follow on the service. If you don't have a Twitter account, read Buttry's post then check it out.

The thing newspaper columnists do best, Robert Niles says, can make them great assets online. Many columnists already have established followings, it's just matter of converting those followers into participants in an online dialogue. His piece in Online Journalism Review has some practical advice on how to do that.

Leah Betancourt of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has some advice on Mashable for journalists on how to best use social media. Her piece summarizes several policies that have been set by major metros, but also offers some practical tips that might be useful for to community journalists.

Ann Handley has an great how-to about using journalistic writing skills on Twitter. "... news journalism works best when it’s simple and direct, at least in the story’s lead sentences. And simplicity (and other tenets of good journalism — like brevity, and clarity, and immediacy) are now cornerstones of how many businesses, brands and individuals communicate on Twitter," she writes.

Cindy Royal, a faculty member at Texas State University in San Marcos, has a great piece in Online Journalism Review about how news organizations can create "user experiences" on their websites. Some of her examples, such as the New York Times products she references, may seem out of reach for community newspapers, but many of them are very easy to do with free online tools that are already out there.

The New York Times has hired a "social media editor" who is going to be connecting with users on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. The first link is a blog post from Mashable, a blog about social media trends. The second link is to the new social media editor's Twitter account.