Social Media is good for nothing .. If you look at it the wrong way

What is social media good for anyway? Is this news? What do social media do best?

News: It all depends Social media are not news. They are media. In other words, they are tools. Journalists can use them to … Promote Connect Cover

Promotion

Promotion You don’t end up with readers. You end up with friends. You contribute to the link economy

Promotion Pitfalls

Promotion: Question What does promotion mean to you? How do you personally use social media? How does this apply to your work?

Connection Readers don’t just want to read any more Connection can lead to credibility

Connection Don’t just ask to connect Do something with it

Coverage This is where journalists come in If you use Twitter to connect and promote, you have to use it to cover and report Apply your skills to the rumor mill

Coverage Find leads / notice trends Hashtags : Create / Share Find sources Lists Crowdsource Give the Voiceless a Voice Share and vet stories

Coverage: Examples Look to social media for ‘inside information’ Use it to break news where you can’t ordinarily Verify, verify, verify Link, link, link

Twitter Commandments Thanks to Vadim Lavrusik Thou shalt give credit Find and use handles Thou shalt not self-promote excessively Thou shalt link appropriately Track links with bit.ly Thou shalt reply to your followers Thou shalt make clear voice vs. headline Thou shalt not hashtag every word

Location: GeoTagging Why do we care about location? It gets us out of the office. It tells people where we are. It can connect us with sources. Third Places

Location, location, location It can guide the news process.

Coverage: Question How have you used social media to cover the news? What opportunities have you missed?

Connect with me meyerh@ohio.edu OhJProf on Twitter Hans K. Meyer on Facebook This PowerPoint is available at bit.ly/asdfa.