Social Media & Journalism
Online news tips for UCLA's newsmagazines
Helga Salinas / hsalinas@media.ucla.edu / @helga_salinas
https://public.etherpad-mozilla.org/p/ucla-f2015
Session 1
Sunday, October 11
Who am I?
Former La Gente Newsmagazine EIC, 2011-2012
After UCLA, I went to Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
I've worked for Univision, NPR, GOOD Magazine, and the LA Times
Who are you?
Name
Major
Publication
What's the last thing (.gif, video, status, vine) you shared on social media?
Groups
Where do you get your news?
Facebook feed, Twitter moments, newsletters, Tumblr
What are your expections for the news on each social media site?
Tumblr
Snapchat
Anything else? (Reddit, Pinterest, etc)
What's your criteria for sharing a post?
Tumblr
Snapchat
Anything else? (Reddit, Pinterest, etc)
What are the ways you can share a post on each social media site?
Tumblr
Snapchat
Anything else? (Reddit, Pinterest, etc)
Where are your communities online?
What are they reading and sharing?
Listen to your communities.
What are the ways you can all colloborate together online for a news story?
Are you set up on Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, Vine, etc?
Examples
‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen
The Counted: People Killed by the Police in the U.S.
AJ+
Write a lede and a tweet:
This morning, Kenneth Lee Chotiner, the presiding judge of the Van Nuys Muncipal Court, noticed that yellow ribbons were tied around five redwood tres that stand near a small parkway next to the courthouse garage. The trees are about 30 feet tall.
The judge said he found out later that morning that the ribbons were put there because the trees were to be chopped down to make room for two stairwells that were going to be added to the outside of the parking strucuture. Distressed, the judge began calling county officials, the contractor who was building the addition to the parking structure, a member of the Sierra Club and a community beautification specialist.
After a three-hour meeting on Wednesday, contractor Derrick Williamson agreed to transplant four of the trees. A fifth one will be chopped down.
Session 2
October 18, 2015
Share your two tweets & one Facebook post
Story Structure
"Inverted Pyramid"
Most Important Facts
Additional Facts
More Facts
Etc., Etc.
Etc.
News briefs, breaking news
Summarize the key facts in a concise lede. Then organize the story as logically as possible, arranging paragraphs in descending order of importance. End the story when you run out of facts.
"Hourglass"
The Lede
Key Facts
Facts
Etc.
Chronology of Events
Additional Facts, Quotes
Kicker
Crimes, disasters, other stories to show how it unfolded
Begin with an inverted pyramid summary of the story's most important facts. Then, shift into a chronological narrative. Detail what happened, step by step. End with a kicker, which is a surprise twist or strong closing quote.
"The Circle"
Anecdote
Nut Graf
Details
Details
Details
Anecdote
Stories on trends or events where you want to show how people are affected or invovled
The story beigns with a quote or anecdote about a specific person. Then it broadens into a general discussion of the topic. It ends by returning to that person again.
The Problem
What it Means
What Happens Next
Look: This Person Has a Problem
Uh-oh: The Problem is Everywhere
What the Experts Say
What the Future Holds
What it All Means for That Person We Met at the Start of the Story
Groups
Put the paragraphs before you in order
Headline
Lede
Subsequent facts & quotes
Kicker
Is it a News Article, Opinion Piece, Essay?
Pair up: You are going to do an interview!
- What is your favorite word?
- What is your least favorite word?
- What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
- What turns you off?
- What is your favorite curse word?
- What sound or noise do you love?
- What sound or noise do you hate?
- What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
- What profession would you not like to do?
- If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Session 3
October 24, 2015
Any new students? Introduce yourselves!
Name
Major
Publication
What's the last thing (.gif, video, status, vine) you shared on social media?
Share your ledes!
Activity
Read the story
Outline the parts of the story structure: lede, nutgraf, experts or background research
What kind of assets should accompany this story? Photos, video, pullout quotes, gifs
What's the best platform(s) to share this story?
Create your community map
Create your publication's community map
Things you can consider:
- Platform (Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, etc.)
- Who you follow on those platforms
- What kind of content (articles, images, .gifs, videos, etc) you share
- Language you consume it in & share
- Geography
- Age
Tips for your social media platforms
*Keep to a posting schedule
*Don't be afraid to create content only for social media
- Engaging/Inspiring/Enlightening/Impactful photo, illustration, video, or screenshot
- Engaging and informative caption, aka a mini article
- Attribute source, photographer
- Use emojis
- Minimize hashtags, but it can depend on your IG growth strategy
- Link in bio
- Share your content, or create/curate content only for IG
- To grow followers, follow other accounts and comment on their posts
- Examples: LA Times, Remezcla, NPR, FEM
- Articles: headline, summary, and status
- Photos: create galleries with captions and a status
- Videos: take advantage of automatic scroll and sound off for big text
- Target posts
- Post often to stay in readers' feed
- Examples: Mother Jones, ProPublica, Mic News
- Concise text
- Upload photos, gifs, videos
- Minimize hashtags, but use if revelant to story
- Retweet, engage with readers
- Participate in events, i.e. Presidential Debates
- Use your staff's accounts
- Coordinate under a hashtag
- Examples: LA Times Politics
Tumblr
- Images, Vines, Gifs
- Share your content, or engage with the community already on Tumblr
- You can use many hashtags
- Read: How Mic turned Tumblr into a big traffic driver
- Examples: Mic News, Look at This
Snapchat
- Tell whatever story you want
- What's unique to your publication? Content that impacts __________ students
- To build followers, download your Snapchats, and then share them on other platforms + your username or Snapcode.
- Take advantage of WHERE you are & WHEN
- Read: When I was a Snapchat correspondent for the LA Times
- Examples: lacma_museum, losangelestimes, thenytimes
Tips for using social media in reporting
- Roundup of readers' reactions
- Hosting Twitter/Reddit chats
- Using Google form for people to share stories
- Solicit content via hashtag
5 different online posts you can produce
- Listicle
- Q&A
- Aggregated short news article
- About a photo, video
- Data Visualization (Map, Graphs, etc)
News ecosystem
Wires
National
State
Regional
Hyperlocal
Blogs, Single Issue, Online-only, Tech Companies
List of news organizations and associations
Membership, networking, conferences, scholarships
More resources
Josh Stearns' Newsletter: Local Fix | Subscribe & Archive
Any questions?
Follow me on Twitter: @Helga_Salinas
Email me: hsalinas@media.ucla.edu
Thank you for attending!