MJ: Async Social Media

Multimedia Journalism:
Using social media

This is an assignment and lesson that's due by 7:35 p.m. Monday for attendance points.
Please email me at [e-mail] with any questions.
As a reminder, you have an in-person class Wednesday as planned.

Open Ended

First, how do you consume news using social media?

According to Pew Research, U.S. adults consume news most on:
- Facebook​
- YouTube
- Twitter

Here's what we know

Here's the breakdown

Per the same Pew Research study

Facebook:
- 70% of U.S. adults use it
- 31% consume news here regularly

YouTube:
- 82% of adults use it
- 25% consume news regularly

Twitter: (Pre-X decision, to be fair)
- 27% adults use it
- 14% consume news regularly

• Instagram: 13%

• TikTok: 10%

• Reddit: 8%

• LinkedIn: 4%

• Snapchat: 4%

% consuming news

• Instagram: 47%

• TikTok: 30%

• Reddit: 22%

• LinkedIn: 31%

• Snapchat: 27%

% using platform

More social media breakdown

Multiple Choice

So, which platform is used most for consuming news regularly?

• Instagram

• Facebook

• YouTube

• WhatsApp

Open Ended

Why do you think Facebook is still the most widely used
social media platform for consuming news?

We'll talk plenty about how to use social media to tell your stories.
But, can't we use it to find good stories to tell?

​

Let's leverage an opportunity

​You can always just use the general search function by entering terms you might want.
You can further filter by "People," "Photos," etc.
Use Messenger to reach out to sources.

​​Starting with Facebook

You can also join applicable Facebook Groups based on the stories you're covering.

A few great groups to join

These are just examples:

• City "Talk of the Town" pages

• Local government or school PTA pages are great, too

• Niche group pages based on the topic you're covering

  • If you're looking for board game enthusiasts, could join a group and post asking for help

Use Facebook events, too

These are great for one-off stories

Search on Facebook for upcoming events happening in your area. These are great for story idea generation.

Facebook will also point out the event organizers, so you can join the event then reach out directly for an expert source!

Open Ended

What types of events and groups could you join
if you were covering the Kent community?

Using YouTube to find stories

Lots of awesome potential sources on here!

You can make a Library with videos of possible sources doing videos on things they care about (i.e. gamers, runners, musicians)
Search and filter by video durations or upload durations
Can also filter by View Count, Rating, or Upload Dates (Last Hour, Today, This Week, This Month, This Year)

Open Ended

Search "Kent State" on YouTube.

What videos come up if you filter by "This Week?"

And what stories could you do based on this search?

I like Twitter's advanced search function quite a bit.

I used this to find story ideas almost every single day at my last daily news job.

​

Using Twitter

Using the function

• Tweets containing all words in any position (“Twitter” and “search”)  

• Tweets containing exact phrases (“Twitter search”)

• Tweets containing any of the words (“Twitter” or “search”)

• Tweets excluding specific words (“Twitter” but not “search”)

• Tweets with a specific hashtag (#twitter)

• Tweets in a specific language (written in English)

Can also search by a user

This one's really fun!

• Tweets from a specific account (Tweeted by “@TwitterComms”)

• Tweets sent as replies to a specific account (in reply to “@TwitterComms”)

• Tweets that mention a specific account (Tweet includes “@TwitterComms”)

Open Ended

On Twitter Advanced Search,

tell me the top tweets mentioning @Browns

From July 13 to August 13, 2013.

Of course, don't forget #s!

These are especially great on X and Instagram.

Instagram hashtags are great ways to find what people are posting about a particular topic.
Try to find hashtags that are particularly relevant to your coverage.

Open Ended

Suppose you're covering the local music scene in Cleveland.

What hashtags might you use on Instagram to find possible sources?

Other platforms

I'm admittedly less familiar.

In some ways, I suspect you could tell me more about finding good story ideas from TikTok and Snapchat.
Your FYP could be riddled with possible story ideas, for instance, especially if you're constantly posting about your coverage topic areas.

Never report what you see as true unless you've independently verified it as fact.

Follow up and verify

If it reads or looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Especially with AI advancements, anything you see can be fake.

Question everything!

Important note!

Open Ended

If you were to use TikTok or Snapchat to find good stories,

what would you do?

Thank you for attending today's class!