ICFJ Social Media Presentation Georgian Journalists

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Sean MussendenUniversity of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Social Media

ICFJ

+What I’m Going to Talk About

Changing Landscape for News Organizations – what’s coming to your country.

Overview of Facebook. Exercise – building a Facebook Fan Page

Overview of Twitter. Exercise – building a Twitter source list.

Questions

+Why Social Media Matters

“Living life online” increasingly means social networks

Still in early stages. Search and destination Web sites still VERY important, but becoming less important.

+Why Social Media Matters

People are lazy and busy. Increasingly expect news to find them.

Network of friends/followers and “the crowd” increasingly serve as “editors” that determine what people see.

Trust. People more likely to read something suggested by a friend than a stranger.

How people expect to get news is changing

+Which Social Networks Matter?In the U.S. - There’s Facebook…and everything else.

+Which Social Networks Matter?In Georgia – It’s even more all about Facebook

+Facebook Penetration in Georgia

Total Facebook Users: 597,980 in May – up from 400,220 in December!

Percent of Online Users on Facebook: 46.00% (US 65%)

Percent of Population on Facebook: 13.00% (US 50%)

+Facebook Use by Age in Pakistan

+Overview of Facebook

How many people here are on Facebook?

Let’s take a look around?

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Facebook best platform for news organizations.

Less important that individual journalists have a presence – unless you’re really famous.

Two things to consider: Facebook.com presence – fan pages, news feed. Integration of Facebook on your Web site.

+Facebook Strategy for News OrgsIt All Starts with the Fan Page

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Segment audience so they get only what they want

Spreads responsibility for Facebook across organization

Drawback – takes more staff time

The Importance of Niche Pages

Niche Page Examples

+Facebook Strategy for News OrgsThe Pages Don’t Matter - Focus on the Feeds

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Everything from friends and fan pages*

User studies: not looked at as often at Top News.

Not the default view. Users have to take action to see it.

Most valuable real estate on Facebook – “Boardwalk”

User studies: most frequently visited part of Facebook.

Algorithm – Facebook’s “Secret Sauce” – determines what shows up here.

Your goal: get your content here.

Most Recent Feed Top News Feed

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Algorithm tries to determine what users care about

Most important factors: User’s previous interaction with that person/org. In this

order: Share, Comment, Like. User’s friend network interacting with a given post. In this

order: Share, Comment, Like.

Secondary factors: High level of interaction from outside user’s friend network. Inclusion of links, photos and videos.

Inside Facebook’s Secret Sauce

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

If you want people to see your content:You need to work to build a

relationship.You need to post content that people

want to talk about and that they want to share with their friends.

You need to post content that includes pictures/video and links.

Big Takeaway

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Lighter content tends to work better than “heavier” stuff.

Don’t dump everything. Select for potential for virality.

Must be things people would want to talk about. “Hey Mabel” stories.

Engage the audience. Crowdsource Ask questions (NOT: “what do you think?”) Quizzes

Stick to your niche.

What kind of content is best on Facebook?

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Short, catchy blurbs

Conversational tone

Timing matters!

Eye-catching photos and videos

Adjust based on metrics

Links: goal is always to drive people back to your site. Have to pay the bills.

Remember: your competition is not just other media orgs, but pics of users’ grandkids.

Writing Effectively for Facebook

+Facebook ExerciseBuilding a Fan Page

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Important to give users the FB experience on your site.

Facebook OpenGraph makes this easy – talk with your developers.

Three basic levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Allow visitors to like individual pieces of content and share it with their network. Put in multiple locations.

Allow visitors to become a fan/follow. Should be prominent on every page.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site - Beginners

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Show visitors what people in their network are reading/watching on your site.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site - Intermediate

+Facebook Strategy for News Orgs

Make recommendations based on Facebook reading habits. This will creep out some users.

Integrate comment system.

Incorporate Facebook on Your Site - Advanced

+Twitter for Journalists

More about relationships built around shared topical interest than friendships.

Importance is growing, but not near Facebook level.

Of all social networks, best sourcing and informational tool.

Not as important for branding and distribution, but can drive traffic.

+Twitter for Individual Journalists

An amazing knowledge acquisition tool.

“Mindcasting” - A lot of smart people who know more about the topics you care about than you, sharing their knowledge for free.

“The People Formerly Known as the Audience.” – Jay Rosen

Don’t be passive. Engage people you follow.

Tap into the Wisdom of the Crowd

+Twitter for Individual Journalists

Start with a few smart people and mine the list of people they follow.

Tools for finding new people: Twellow, Twibes, WeFollow, LocalTweeps, GeoChirp.

Edit aggressively. Drop people who aren’t useful.

Strategies for Building Your Twitter Network

+Twitter ExerciseBuilding Up Your Source List and Building a Twitter List

+Twitter for Individual Journalists

Carve out a niche and stick to it. 

Write a short, catchy bio and include a picture.

Insert yourself into discussions.  Engage with other users who share similar interests. 

Court the big influencers in your topic area. A RT from someone with 100K followers better than someone with 100 followers.

Tweet regularly.  More tweets = more opportunities for new followers. 

Building a Brand on Twitter

+Twitter for Individual Journalists

Provide useful information. Not what you had for breakfast.

Don't just shill your work.  Link to the work of others.

Links, links, links.  Use a URL shortener (i.e. Bit.ly).

Use #hashtags.  Good way to attract new followers.

Leave approx. 20 characters out of 140 for RTs. 

Abbreviate, within reason. 

Timing matters!

Writing Effective Tweets

+Twitter Exercise

Writing an Effective Bio and Picture

Let’s look at some of yours

+About Sean Mussenden

On faculty at the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Focus on intersection of social media and news and multimedia news production

Former newspaper reporter, multimedia journalist and Web editor

Consultant who has helped several news orgs improve social media strategy

Twitter: @smussenden

Facebook: /sean.mussenden

smussenden@gmail.com

smussenden@jmail.umd.edu

Cell: 202-590-2190

Slides from this presentation available

About Sean Contact Info