Discover Top Posts Tagged with #dmc303

Keeping up with the trends / Chapter 6

As communication shifts to being based online, it makes sense that journalism would adopt a social media edge as well. With most sites offering built in analytics and an open forum for the audience to interact with and give feedback to journalists, the change in how news is posted and gathered is beneficial to all involved. The audience these days is more of an active audience than a passive one as we have discussed in previous chapters. They like to engage with the writers of their favorite or last favorite articles and the writers should take advantage of social media and engage with the audience as well.

In order to optimize the tools that social media sites have given us, it’s important to master the very basics. Tagging relevant people and using relevant hashtags will bring more traction to your story or your tweet. Beyond that, social media should be used effectively. This means coming up with links and sites that are mobile friendly. It’s so important that Google will now knock your site down on its pages of search results if your web page is not mobile friendly. Using short and shareable headlines, shorter stories with the most critical info posted first and additional info being posted later on in short bursts are good places to start in order to be conscious of users who access stories on their phones as many people do these days.

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The Netflix movie dresses up nefarious behaviors as a meet-cute, and not everyone is buying into it.

Following the beat of film, I saw this story pop up on my Twitter feed. I’m currently in he midst of binging MTV’s Catfish so I was quick to click on this link despite the fact that I have yet to see the movie. The article touches on the high points of the movie, such as equity, but there were low points as well: romanticizing the act of cat-fishing: luring (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona.

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Social media’s a hoot / September 17

HOOTSUITE ›

In reading the links on Hootsuite, I was looking to learn a little bit more about the program. Even after spending some time on the official website browsing the tutorials, I still don’t think I have the best grasp on the purpose of the application. However, it was interesting to read and not have the entries be completely foreign. I always appreciate when my classes overlap and there was plenty of information listed, such as conversion rates and SEO, that we’ve been over in my business classes. Towards the end of the article, it’s said that “Hootsuite Academy is very basic training in social media marketing.” Because I’m enrolled in a social media marketing class this semester, I personally think Hootsuite would be beneficial for me in the short-term as well as the long-term. I like knowing as much as I can about a subject if I’m going to be graded on it as I’m a highly competitive person and take my academics very seriously. In the long-term, I think it’d be helpful because I haven’t totally hated my experience managing social media accounts. In the past, I’ve handled the school’s Feed My Starving Children Facebook page and I don’t think it was a total failure, so it wouldn’t be something I’d never, ever do again. Managing a social media presence with more knowledge and experience under my belt might be a more enjoyable experience and having the certification that comes with completing the Hootsuite academy wouldn’t hurt!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ›

The positives of having one social media account split between your personal life and professional life is that it gives you a chance to interact with your audience in a different way than you’d interact with your friends. In doing so, you effectively create a sense of friendliness that readers look for. Throughout the book Mobile and Social Media Journalism, Anthony Adornato puts forth a friendly persona that makes it easier to reach out to him like he suggests in the first chapter’s checklist. It’s also much simpler to take care of one account as opposed to managing two. However, having two pages allows you to study the analytics of your professional profile without personal statistics getting in the way. These days, so many websites and apps allow you to make any account a business account, thus unlocking access to an in-depth analysis of your posts and how any people they’re reaching, how they’re reaching them, etc. When you merge your personal account with your professional account, the statistics become a little muddy since they’re not purely professional posts.

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The heart of the matter / September 6

When you’re writing a story, structure can oftentimes be the hardest part. I know that personally, that’s what I struggle with. Finding the focus of what I want to talk about is oftentimes difficult for me, but chapter 1 of Aim for the Heart creates a checklist for readers to keep in mind when they’re approaching a story. What’s surprising about the story? This should be your lead. What should viewers remember from the story? This should be a soundbite. And what comes next? This should be the takeaway that leads you to the story’s end. From there, the author makes a point of showing readers what to do rather than just telling them. Throughout the whole chapter, he discusses making people feel things by finding a common human experience and I was surprised to see that his example did just that. As somebody who’s from a military family, I can absolutely relate to the art of waiting. His brief descriptions of the scene including Marla and her family awaiting the return of Charles was so familiar to me and took me right to that place in my life again, proving the author’s point about the benefits of writing with a central theme that everyone can relate to rather than focusing on a different way to approach the story that might not be as universal. Finally, he discusses tips and tricks when it comes to picking out a soundbite and for me, that’s often troubling as well. I feel as though I try to look for one when it’s better to let one find you. However, in this chapter, he mentions listening for an opinion, a feeling, or an emotion and letting viewers and listeners ruminate on that during the audio.

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Rest in peace to your naive bravado / September 5

Hiiii, I’m Alex and I’m a twenty-one-year-old Digital Media and Communications student! I’ve lived all along the East Coast as a result of my dad’s job in the military, but I’m most recently from New York. I hope to one day make it to New Jersey as it combines the comfort of the suburbs, the excitement of a big city just a train ride away, and the love of all my family members there. I’m always down for cake batter froyo topped with Fruity Pebbles, rainbow sprinkles and waffle cone pieces, shopping trips to every mall ever and sneaking into the front row of concerts by befriending security. It’s definitely come in handy at a few shows, most memorably The 1975, 5 Seconds of Summer and The Summer Set, but I’ve been to many more that have special places in my heart. I also have room in my heart for my kitties, any food that’s shaped like Mickey Mouse and using long baths, humor and spending money as unhealthy coping mechanisms. My introduction to the world of journalism and all that it entails came at an early age when my mom would tell me stories about her work as an amateur photojournalist. I didn’t initially take an interest in it, having been more intrigued by my possible career paths of the past, such as forensic science, law and the ever-original actress career path but I vividly remember the first time I was ever truly able to express myself was during a journalism class my senior year, as well as the yearbook class I took at that same time. I figured that had to mean something, so I stuck with that and hope to make a career out of it someday! In the meantime, my beat this semester is film. It’s not something I’m usually super into, but I believe that it’ll help me get more involved in the film classes I’m taking this semester.

P.S. My sign in the picture says “Harry, if looks could kale, you’d be a felon!” because I love a pun and Harry Styles. Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

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