Presentation for J334- multimedia storytelling - a journalism class at the University of Texas at Austin. Robert Quigley, professor.

1. Live tweeting tips & tricks
✤ Pick the right event
✤ Tweet the right amount (I’ll
explain)
✤ Be interactive/responsive
✤ Use hashtags (correctly)
✤ Focus on analysis, rich content
over play-by-play

2. Your live-tweeting assignment
✤ You pick the event. Must be a live event (though it can be off of a
broadcast). Doesn’t have to be related to your blog
✤ Each original tweet about your event = 10 percentage points
✤ It is OK to do more than 10 original tweets, but you won’t get graded
for more.
✤ Must use a hashtag relevant to your event, plus #j334
✤ We will critique in class
✤ Email the text of your tweets to j334UT@gmail.com

3. Addie Broyles on Thursday
Everyone: Submit at least one question on the J334 Tumblr comments for Addie

4. ‘Personal’ accounts
✤ There is no such thing as a truly
personal account for a journalist
✤ If you plan to (or are asked to)
use it for work, mix of personal
and professional is OK, even
desirable.
✤ Be helpful, informative ...
basically, a journalist
✤ ... but also be a real person

5. The tools
✤ More broadcast than engaging: Twitter
✤ More engaging than broadcast: Facebook
✤ A mix of the two: Google Plus
✤ Other, less obvious social media (YouTube, story/blog comments/
reviews
✤ Link sharing (Fark, StumbleUpon, Digg, etc)
✤ Location-based services (Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter & FB)

6. Twitter
✤ News-oriented medium (people expect informative content)
✤ Very mobile, open platform (many third-party apps)
✤ Very searchable - Twitter.com is a content gold mine for searching -
find users, text, photos and video
✤ Half as many users as Facebook (at least), but most don’t lock down
their content (default is to be open)
✤ Thought-leaders/celebrities are sort of accessible
✤ International events gain traction here

7. What to do in the Twitterverse
✤ Install Tweetdeck on your computer, Twitter app on your phone
✤ Set up lists of media/people on your beat
✤ Explore the search function on Twitter.com and within Tweetdeck
✤ Join conversations - think of it as a cocktail party - LISTEN, then join
in with added information/useful content
✤ Follow people back - and follow people who are in your beat. @ reply
them, retweet them, thank them for retweets (privately and publicly).
✤ Not every update has to include a link. Share a little about you

8. Facebook
✤ More personable, personal medium
✤ Less open than Twitter, but check out http://openstatussearch.com/
✤ 750 million users. Yes, gaining on 1 billion. Holy crap
✤ About half of those users access it on a mobile, through text
messaging or Facebook’s official mobile app
✤ Brands generally buy their fans through FB’s massive ad network
✤ Drives a lot of traffic, but mostly organically (like buttons)

9. What to do on the Facebook
✤ Beat Facebook’s “top stories” algorithm by pushing for interaction
✤ If you have the money, FB ads are effective
✤ Be sure you content is really easy to share on FB
✤ Ask questions, use the poll tool
✤ Create a fan page for yourself (I have)
✤ Join or create social media/journalism groups on FB

10. Ethics in the New World
Multimedia Journalism 334 - University of Texas - Robert Quigley
Sept. 13, 2011

11. Discussion for class
✤ What are some ethical considerations when using social media?
✤ Should journalists be able to have private accounts?
✤ Should journalists voice their opinions about their beat?
✤ What about stuff outside of their beat?
✤ Is mentioning that you love Torchy’s Tacos seen as a free ad?
✤ Should journalists friend partisans? How about join Facebook
groups?