Four social media experts offered tips from their experiences detecting news, reporting news, publishing news and engaging with audiences at a panel moderated by Twitter’s head of news, Vivian Schiller, at the Online News Association conference in Chicago. Here are four of them.
How @twitter relates to the journalism world according to the “news compass” presented by @vivian #ONA14tempest pic.twitter.com/vyBaem4fOt
— Burt Herman (@burtherman) September 25, 2014
Get retweeted by telling people stuff they don’t know
Quiz time: Callie Schweitzer, director of digital innovation at Time, asked attendees to guess which of these two tweets received the most retweets:
Read @nancygibbs' 2001 TIME cover story following the 9/11 attacks http://t.co/5vwUaXBjGG pic.twitter.com/Wl3Yz0A2cg
— TIME.com (@TIME) September 11, 2014
TIME's 9/11 cover was the first time in history the magazine's red border went black http://t.co/5vwUaXBjGG pic.twitter.com/Blo0yQ9F93
— TIME.com (@TIME) September 11, 2014
Schweitzer said the second tweet gave people info that they didn’t already know, accounting for its success. “Thinking for the retweet” is part of Time’s larger strategy for boosting social traffic.
The second tweet above contains a factoid that’s useful to readers even if they don’t click the link. More retweets means potential for more impressions, but remember that sharing doesn’t always correlate with clicking. The most shareable tweets aren’t always those that are most likely to compel followers to click a link.
Even on social media, it’s possible to have difficult conversations
Engaging with audiences on Twitter can go much deeper than asking for opinions on the news. Kat Chow, a blogger/social media producer for NPR’s Code Switch, highlighted how she cultivated conversation around topics that wouldn’t ordinarily be broached on social media.
When engaging your twitter audience, don't ask yes or no questions. Doesn't add value, can't RT them. –@katchow #ONA14 #ona14tempest
— Stephanie Buck (@StephMBuck) September 25, 2014
One such topic: interracial relationships. Check out a Storify of tweets on the topic that Chow put together here.
Use geolocation to find and verify content
Searching for tweets by location is an advanced search option on Twitter and Tweetdeck. It doesn’t prove that a user reporting on, say, the arrest of Justin Bieber is telling the truth, but if you find out she’s located in Los Angeles, that can set you on the right path toward verification.
CNN Digital’s Dorrine Mendoza, senior social media producer, talked about CNN’s use of Dataminr, a tool for surfacing potential breaking-news tweets that officially launched this week for all news organizations. Using Dataminr is “like learning to play the piano,” Mendoza said, and it still requires a human touch to verify what the service uncovers.
There’s no substitute for on-the-ground coverage
When Mashable’s real-time news editor Brian Ries — in Mashable’s New York offices — heard word on social media of tear gas being used during riots in Ferguson, Missouri, he messaged Amanda Wills, who was on the scene, to fill her in. Her response: “I know.”
.@AmandaWills has her moment in journalism solidarity – helps @chezpazienza after tear gas pic.twitter.com/EA7Yc8tad6
— Ashley Codianni (@AshleyCodianni) August 20, 2014
Mashable’s mastery of social reporting from its New York office freed up those on the ground to do deeper reporting, Ries said.
