Using Social Media in Journalism
New Internet technologies are changing journalism
Social media are Internet sites where people interact freely, sharing and discussing information about each other and their lives, using a multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, videos and audio. At these Web sites, individuals and groups create and exchange content and engage in person-to-person conversations.
Social media appear in many forms including blogs and microblogs, forums and message boards, social networks, wikis, virtual worlds, social bookmarking, tagging and news, writing communities, digital storytelling and scrapbooking, and data, content, image and video sharing, podcast portals, and collective intelligence.
There are lots of well-known sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, LiveJournal, Wikipedia, Wetpaint, PBworks, Wikidot, Second Life, Delicious, Digg, Reddit, Lulu and others.
13 ways journalists use social media
- Uncovering news tips
- Gathering content for stories
- Pursuing news sources and staying in touch
- Reaching out and connecting with people
- Friending or following influential community people
- Discussing social and political trends
- Learning how people feel about happenings
- Sharing links to key resources
- Reporting and clarifying rumors
- Creating and circulating stories
- Exploring significant comments and replies to know more
- Interacting with readers, listeners and viewers
- Promoting publication and production projects
Mashable reports on journalists and social media
Latest intelligences from an important source for news of social media, new media, digital technology and web culture.
- The Future of Social Media in Journalism As news gathering and consumption become more social, "social media journalism" will become simply "journalism."
- Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future Social media has changed journalism. Here is a look at the past, present, and future of social journalism.
- The Future Newsroom: Lean, Open and Social Media-Savvy Journalism has marshaled the power of social media for a divergent future.
- How Journalists are Using Social Media for Real Results Social media has made the process of reporting all the more nuanced.
- 29 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed The future of social media in journalism.
- How Investigative Journalism Is Prospering in the Age of Social Media How news organizations are generating revenue from social media.
- 8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow's Journalist 10 ways journalism schools are teaching social media.
- Social Media and Subpoenas: The Loophole Journalists and their sources and communication via social media can be a networked environment.
- Mashable's Social Media Guide for Journalists How programmer/journalists are changing the news.
- How Social Media is Radically Changing the Newsroom The journalist's guide to social media.
- The Emerging Skills of Tomorrow's Journalist The changing media landscape and the skills required to produce journalism/media.
- How the Internet is Affecting Traditional Journalism Journalism quality and social media.
- 5 Ways Traditional Media is Going Social The future is now.
- How Social Media has Changed the Game for Documentary Filmmaking Filmmakers are using social media.
- Just What is Social Media, Exactly? Is social media actually media?
- How To Launch Your Own Indie Journalism Site Developing an active social media presence.
- Americans Consuming More News, Thanks to the Internet It's a public/community journalism trend.
- How Mobile Technology is Affecting Local News Coverage The local reporter, station or paper uses social media.
13% – proportion of online Americans on Twitter, according to Pew Research.
59% – proportion of online Americans on a social network such as Facebook.
The Pew Research Center is a non-profit organization at Washington, D.C. that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. October 2011
- Helicopter and Plane Crash Over Hudson River: Twitter Tells the Story Hudson River aircraft crash, another Twitter response.
- Reuters to Journalists: Don't Break News on Twitter Reuters, journalism, social media.
- Facebook's Growing Role in Social Journalism Journalists are just beginning to see what's possible with social journalism.
Newspapers
- The Journalist's Guide to Facebook Things to consider when using a social medium cover topics in the future.
- The Dire State of the Newspaper Industry News blogs and online reporting are the future of journalism.
- 10 Ways Newspapers are Using Social Media to Save the Industry Social journalism is more than a buzzword, it's the way social media will save the industry.
- Newspapers Are Still Dying, But the News Is Not Going Anywhere The future doesn't look any better for print, but information is in social media.
- Newspapers: 5 Ways to Avoid Extinction What we need is journalism. Events, driven by technology and social use patterns, will shape the future.
International media
- New York Times Will Go Out of "Print" Sometime in the Future The New York Times sometime in the future.
- Al Jazeera Launches Twitter & Meetup Campaigns To Bring Broadcasts Al Jazeera is using social media.
- What the Egyptian Revolution Taught Al Jazeera About Digital The Egyptian people knew about social media.
- How Journalists Are Using Social Media to Report on the Egyptian Crisis The Egyptian government shut down social media and the Internet.
Robots
- How To Follow the Japan Earthquake Online Social media and the web have become the go-to for real news.
Other media
- Can Robots Run the News? Proponents of what some call "computational journalism."
- 7 Ways Journalists Can Use Foursquare The future newsroom will be lean, open and social media-savvy.
- Use Social Media to Tell Interactive Stories About almost any topic is on social media.
- How News Consumption is Shifting to the Personalized Social News Social media magazine.
- The Complete Guide to Video Blogging Helps if you engage your audience through social media.
- 5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media Real-time citizen journalism made possible by social media.
Selected list of popular social media sites
Resources for Courses »
© 2013 Dr. Anthony Curtis, Mass Communication Dept., University of North Carolina at Pembroke email home page