How do you use social media in your reporting?
7/22/11
by IJNet
Social media offer a wealth of real-time information for reporters, no matter what the beat, region or medium.
When news breaks, whether it's the explosions in Oslo or the latest protests in the Middle East, people on the ground and around the world are telling their friends and contacts what they saw and what they think on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and other social networks.
Reporters, of course, must take special care to verify the accounts they find on social media.
Are you or your news organization getting all the information you can out of social media on your beat or specialty? How do you use social media in your reporting?
don't believe the hype
Social media, schmedia. I say pick up the phone, use a rolodex. This will pass like just any other fad...So someone found out about the Oslo bombing online -- does that change what 99% of reporters will work on today? Maybe not.
Not a fad!
The Amy Winehouse obit in the New York Times "quoted" two singers from Twitter -- in other words, they are using it to get quotes. It's easy, fast and works. Get with the program!
reporting tool
I have found a lot of sources over Facebook and Twitter in the last year or so. You need good research skills to find them, but it's usually worth it. However, if you report on contentious issues you have to be a lot more careful about verifying who people are -- and that's still a big problem...
just the news, please!
Journalists are doing a lot w/ social media, but for me the value is as a way to get news, fast. And for that I stick to mostly Twitter...
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