5 ways journalists are using social media in modern reporting
To say that the lives of many in the world revolve around social media is an understatement. Social media platforms are changing as quickly as the people who use them; and journalism is ever evolving to keep up.
This is five ways journalists use these platforms to inform you.
1. Knowing Who to Keep Tabs on
It doesn’t take a PR expert to work out that a public organisation that frequently interacts with the most volatile areas of society makes for a good story. Police forces, politicians, hospitals and even institutions like the Crown Prosecution Service all keep a public presence online, and that means Twitter feeds and Facebook profiles. That means first hand and quickly available information on things as they happen.
2. Hashtags
While the first item in this list was something people would have to actively work for, hashtags are that obvious thing that helps the internet savvy journalist keep a track of a topic on a massive scale. A simple search for a relevant or trending hashtag can give any journalist an instant portfolio of dozens of sources to comb through; from official updates to a window into public opinion.
3. Trends
Similar to hashtags, sites like twitter actively include trending or explore tabs, filled with new and relevant stories that are actively being looked at. While keeping an eye on one group or another is an old practical idea that’s carried over to this new set of tools, and hashtags are another way of doing it, identifying trends is a good way for you to find new ideas and new stories just becoming relevant in the hyperactive centre of the public eye.
4. On hand Analytics
This is an odd one, but something very important to the way journalists have to stay afloat in today’s world of fast news and faster trends. Most sites today keep a track of what’s called ‘analytics’, particularly through a site called social blade, which keeps a log and track of the information of every account on the sites registered to it. A tick down in monthly viewers likely has a cause, and a tick up in a number of dislikes and comments can be a tremor of something quickly coming together. At worst, these numbers look nice in an article, at best they can be the early warning sign of something big around the corner.
5. Communication
This is something that strays into the realm of ‘opinion piece’, as not everyone would agree with me, but to say that the modern journalist is heavily scrutinised is the biggest understatement since the ones I opened this article with. Communication with an audience is the vital lifeblood of any public institution, and if you can show that you not only have the public’s trust, but that you can actually talk with the public one to one, especially when they might not have the nicest things to say about you, that will give any aspiring journalist the bedrock on which to build their house.
