Family members keep asking me what I want for Christmas. I can usually find about a bazillion things I want but refuse to buy myself when I'm out shopping. But there's something about being asked for gift ideas for myself that makes all of my wants escape me. I guess maybe I'm difficult to buy for. I don't feel like I am because I'm grateful for … [Read more...]
How Journalists Can Use Social Media to Build Reader Relationships
Too many news agencies are doing it wrong. Social media are not after-the-fact forms of one-way communication you use just to promote your content after the story is written. Social media are ongoing, two-way discussion tools meant to help build a professional relationship between reporters and the audience. The reporters represent the news … [Read more...]
Helping Journalists Think Digital First
I hear the same questions from editors and media advisers: How do we get our staff to think digital first?" It's an excellent question. The short answer is that thinking digital first is all about breaking habits. Traditional print journalists have enjoyed the luxury of allowing a lot of news to unfold before they've had to report anything to the … [Read more...]
Linking Best Practices for Journalists and Bloggers
There doesn't seem to be much of a question anymore about whether online content should contain links. Links are the easiest way to add depth and context to any online content, including news story or blog post. Plus, links are key to optimizing search results for your site. We may understand that links are necessary, but many of us still feel a … [Read more...]
10 Blogs Journalists Must Read
Most writers consider it fact that, in order to write well, you must read a lot. I encourage student journalists to read everything they can get their hands on. I figure the good writing they read will give them something to mirror. The bad writing serves as a warning and a great way to practice their editing skills. Journalists are mass … [Read more...]
Why I Chose to Tweet Normally through Tragedy
I learned about the 9/11 terror attacks on my way to my job as a full-time journalist. I wondered why I was stuck in traffic during my typically smooth commute to the newsroom. I heard it on the radio. When I got to work, I wrote a story about a library. I don't remember which Oklahoma town the library was in or what the story was … [Read more...]
Sree on Twitter: ‘Always Collect, Share Carefully’
Sree Sreenivasan takes three to six minutes on every tweet he writes. I've seen the Columbia Journalism professor's process. It's excruciating. The drafting, editing, tagging, re-editing... it's quite a process. But Sree has a good reason for his careful behavior, aside from saying that social media is "the only thing I do every day that can … [Read more...]