Social media (mostly Twitter) resources for journalists

Here are resources to help journalists using Twitter and other social media.

For the last few months, as I’ve been visiting Journal Register Co. newsrooms and blogging more tips for journalists using social media, I have been meaning to update my Twitter resources for journalists (now more than a year old). After today’s news that a new Journal Register subsidiary, Digital First Media, will start managing MediaNews Group, I suddenly got messages that I was being followed by lots of MediaNews journalists, particularly from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

I don’t know yet what my specific role will be in working with MediaNews, but I think it’s safe to say I will remain a leader in social media news for JRC, with likely roles in leading social media use for Digital First and/or MediaNews. So maybe I should introduce myself to my new colleagues with a list of resources for journalists using social media.

I will try to update this frequently as I find new resources (please send me any you like, whether you developed them or someone else did).

We’ll start with Twitter and my own blog posts, because, hey, it’s my blog:

My Twitter tips

Updated and expanded Twitter tips for journalists. If you’re not very active or adept on Twitter, I encourage starting here.

Advanced Twitter tips for journalists.

Advice for building engagement through newsroom Twitter accounts. If you run a newsroom Twitter account, I encourage reading this.

Why editors should be active on Twitter. This is geared specifically for newsroom leaders, the top editors in any size newsroom.

Twitter can make you a better reporter. These are the slides for my Twitter workshop for reporters.

Suggestions (but not standards) for live tweeting. You should be live tweeting events in your community. Here are tips to help you get started.

Sports staffs should promote and curate Friday Night Tweets.

Include a web link in your Twitter or Facebook profile.

Include staff members’ usernames in tweets promoting their content.

Twitter time management. These tips are more than a year old. Not sure when/if I’ll be updating, but if you know of some newer tips, I’d love to link to them. They address the I-don’t-have-time-for-Twitter excuse.

These are tutorials that are all getting a little old, but they are tailored for specific audiences and might help:

• Tweeps give advice to journos using Twitter, crowdsourced advice for some workshops I led in January 2010 for journalists in Ottawa (slides).
• Twitter for newsroom leaders (slides), presented in February 2010 for the Mid-America Press Institute.

My posts on Twitter and breaking news

@statesman: A case study in Twitter use for breaking news. This is more than a year old, but I still think it’s a valuable look at how to use Twitter in covering a big, breaking news story. Also check the sequel: @statesman shines again in breaking news coverage.

Other breaking news posts are less detailed, mostly quick looks at examples of effective use of Twitter for breaking news or of missed opportunities:

• Research shows Twitter’s value in questioning rumors
• My tweeps help with tips and examples of Twitter’s value in covering breaking news
• Twitter scoops Google, AP on earthquake
• A breaking news story in Boston covered by Twitter
• Using Twitter to follow North Dakota floods
• Again, Twitter shows value for reporting
• Twitter is an essential reporting tool

My posts on community engagement on Twitter

Listening to the community on Twitter produces great stories

How do you build local engagement on Twitter?

Mandy Jenkins’ Twitter resources

Mandy Jenkins, my former TBD colleague, provides excellent Twitter advice on her blog:

• How to sign up and start your Twitter account
• Intro to Twitter for journalists
• Making Twitter work for reporting
• Need-to-know Twitter tips for journalists
• Data-mining information from Twitter

Other Twitter resources for journalists

I am sure that I don’t know all the valuable resources others have compiled. I will list a few and invite you to help me fill it out:

• John Robinson’s quick-start guide to Twitter for ASNE members
• CJR story about Andy Carvin’s use of Twitter
• Andy Carvin’s Storify page, which includes several examples showing how he used Twitter to verify or refute reports using Twitter
• Sree Sreenivasan’s Twitter guide for newbies and skeptics
• Jeff Sonderman’s How the New York Times is taking Twitter reporting faster and deeper with @NYTLive.
• Twitter for Newsrooms. This is Twitter’s official resource for newsrooms. I was disappointed with it initially, but I hope it will grow more useful.
• Jeff Sonderman’s Reuters’ Anthony DeRosa: I watch TweetDeck so you don’t have to
• Twitter Media, Twitter’s media blog.
• More from Julie Posetti: Top 20 tips for journo twits and Rules of engagement for journalists on Twitter and The #Spill Effect: Twitter Hashtags and Australian Political Journalism
• Andria Krewson’s Twitter advice for journalists
• Vadim Lavrusik’s Using CoverItLive for live chats, tracking Twitter feeds and more
• Robert Niles’ So why aren’t you Twittering yet?
• Eric Ulken’s Twitter Tim.es: Personalized news done right?
• Leah Betancourt’s A journalist’s guide to Twitter
• Journalist’s Toolbox Twitter resources
• Mark S. Luckie’s How Twitter saved my career and my life, 25 tools for getting more out of Twitter and Twitter for journalists: what you need to know
• Scott Karp’s Newsrooms can grow Twitter followers by using Twitter for link journalism
• Suzi Steffen’s Twitter confabulation
• Richard Kendall’s A local journalist’s Twitter guide
• Meranda Watling’s How, When to Request Interviews on Twitter
• Meranda Watling’s Indianapolis Star Journalists Adopt #myassignment Hashtag
• Daniel Jalkut’s Elements of Twitter Style
• Daniel Victor’s When cops and Twitter tell different stories
• Daniel Victor’s Twitter for journalists: a beginner’s guide

My other Twitter helps

Crowdsourcing on Twitter: My tweeps help me start geotagging

Twitter tips for high school journalists

How retweeting drives blog traffic

Resources for journalists using Facebook

Ben LaMothe’s Can a Facebook Fan Page Be an Online Community?

Lauren Drell’s How Journalists Are Using Facebook to Share the News

Kim Wilson’s How to Deal with Haters and Potty Mouths on Your Newsroom’s Facebook Page

Resources for using Storify, Google+ and other tools

Mandy Jenkins’ A Beginner’s Guide to Location-Based Services

Lauren Rabaino’s Three Ways to Use Storify’s New Slideshow Feature

Mandy Jenkins’ 10 Ways Journalists Can Use Storify

My Trentonian uses Google+ and other tools to cover apartment shooting

Meghan Peters’ 5 Ways Journalists Are Using Google+

Ethan Klapper’s Missouri TV Station Interviews Norwegians On Google+ For Reaction To Attacks

Ethan Klapper’s New York Times Journalists Take to Quora to Answer Questions

Shane Snow’s 7 Ways Journalists Can Use Foursquare

My Syncing social tools (especially Foursquare) requires some thought

Mandy Jenkins’ First try at using Xtranormal

My tips on curating the community conversation

Jeff Sonderman’s What you need to know about StumbleUpon

Mark Little’s The Human Algorithm

General social media resources

My News University course, Introduction to Reporting: Beat Basics, discusses integration of social media into the daily workflow of beat reporting.

My best practices for newsroom leaders using social media

My Tips on crowdsourcing news, feature and investigative stories

My What does ‘community engagement’ mean?

Ivan Lajara curated an excellent list of resources and tools for journalists to use with social media and digital journalism.

Elana Zak’s Social Media Resources for Bad Weather

Ben LaMothe’s Establish Important Social Media Metrics Early On

Leah Betancourt’s How Social Media Is Radically Changing the Newsroom

Mandy Jenkins on managing news brands on social media

Channeling the news brand: persona and strategy

Channeling the news brand on Twitter and Facebook

Interacting with the audience as a news brand

Ethics in social media

I have written about journalism ethics issues relating to social media:

• Journalism ethics in social networks
• Bad judgment doesn’t taint the platform
• I have blogged extensively about newsroom policies on social media

Mandy Jenkins developed an accuracy and accountability checklist for using social media.

Help me add to this list. What are social media resources for journalists that you have developed or found helpful?