 How often do you check your Facebook profile, not your wall, but your profile? My husband can’t remember the last time he checked his profile. This evening he clicked on it and found he had Timeline. It was already public, which means he missed his 7-days grace period to edit and curate his Timeline. He didn’t mind. He sat there and went through his Timeline laughing at posts and pictures. Memories he had forgotten came flashing back. He found posts and tags from friends with whom he’s n... Continue reading ...
Last time I wrote and published a blog it was right after Facebook changed… again. The changes again had to do with how your newsfeed looks to you. This change drastically hurt pages at the time and for a good week because your newsfeed is now built on your interactions with your friends, groups and pages and your own ranking of posts as “Top Stories” or not. Since that first week the ranking of pages improved to where the pages to which I am an administrator had the normal amount of t... Continue reading ...
 Within minutes of seeing the roll-out of the new Facebook news feed on Wednesday I knew the changes would hurt pages. FB is taking all of your past use of FB to decide the order the posts you see on your FB news feed. It seems FB is ranking Profiles over Pages.
I noticed right away that if a Page I've liked has posted within a short amount of time before I logged in, that Page's post showed up towards the top in "Recent Stories." Then I noticed I had to scroll way down on my news fee...
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Each day I try to find social aspects of our stories. The easiest thing to do is just post a
question or comment about a story on Facebook and/or Twitter and let
conversation ensue. When I can or have
the opportunity I’ll jump into the conversation and add responses either as
myself or commenting as the station.
Those conversations are necessary to create relationships
with people who will tu... Continue reading ...
To understand how to use social media you might want to forget you’re a journalist. Then when you do use social media you need to remember you’re a journalist. Make sense?
Here’s the deal. We are trained to not share the story process or personal details of life. We are trained not to give away the story until it’s on the web or on the air.
Holding to this training while trying to do social media will just cause you to fail, and even resent it.
Social media is not about the fina...
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I have gone to the dark side.
I sometimes wonder who I am.
I see numbers in my sleep.
Ask any journalist about his/her math skills and you’ll probably find yourself hearing some joke about becoming a journalist to avoid working with numbers. Little did I know utilizing social media would put me smack in the middle of a bed of numbers.
The numbers were on the wall long, long ago when I realized I had branded myself by accident by using Twitter as a journalist. Every time I speak to stu...
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 Almost three months have passed since I last wrote and announced my decision to leave CBS4 News after 10 1/2 years On the News Desk.
I’ve been waiting for my feet to find steady ground. I’ve been finding my new place and how exactly I fit. I’ve been too exhausted at the end of the day to write.
I have composed many blogs in my mind and seriously need to start recording my thoughts so they aren’t lost!
My personal blog has been just as neglected, which is truly sad because I had pla...
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I’m taking a very serious, critical look at my time thus far as Digital Content Manager at 9NEWS. Only seconds have passed and the truth is hitting me upside the head: I haven’t spent enough time, nor have proper planning to actually have moved the station more than an inch in effectively utilizing social media. This truth is quickly followed with a smack to the other side of my head: I haven’t lived what I’ve been preaching. I wrote a 10-page Social Media Action Plan before I steppe...
Hand in hand with my previous blog
goes this post. Just as you need to be aware of what’s being said about
you/your name/brand/company, you should know what’s being said about
your competition and what your competition is saying. At the very least
you should know how your competition is using the same social networks
as you are so you can improve your own use, or expand to another
network. I’m a journalist so my competition is other
journalists, traditional and citizen, and media outlets... Continue reading ...
Whether you’re using social networks for personal or for professional
reasons you need to be monitoring what’s being said about you on the
Internet. I can understand why someone who is only chatting with
friends and who doesn’t talk about business wouldn’t think it’s
necessary to do so. If that person is you, I ask, “don’t you want to
know if you’re name is out there?” A comment you leave on any public
forum, or even a forum you think is completely protected, can and will
be... Continue reading ...
Media organizations have partnered for as long as I can remember. CBS4 News used to partner with The Rocky Mountain News before it closed. Now the station partners with The Denver Business Journal. KUSA and KMGH also partner with local print organizations. There are various partnerships with local radio stations as well. These partnerships will continue but need to go beyond media organization to media organization. Collaboration is a term being used more these days to describe a wide variety ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Misty Montano on Thursday, December 17, 2009,
In :
Twitter
There are very few reasons I block anyone from facebook or Twitter. Pure spam. Porn. Insults just because I’m a member of the media. These types of accounts I block.
I’ve never stopped any other journalist or news organization from following me; not even direct competition. To do so goes against all I preach about using social networks. Plus I want to follow them to see what they’re doing!
One local journalist has a public account but has blocked me and @cbs4denver. I’m gue... Continue reading ...
This week’s Journchat was lively as usual. Question one lead
to a good discussion on press releases used as news. (You can view the Archived Chat. Question one and the comments start at
7:07pm.) I answered as soon as I saw the
question.
Last night was a no brainer.
As I’m shouting out to coworkers about an email from Denver Police on a
missing grandmother and her two-year old grandson, I’m saving the press release, a PDF file, so I
can upload the release to Twitdoc. I
knew t... Continue reading ...
I’ve spent the last two weeks playing around in Google Wave. I see its potential as a collaborative tool to share information during news events, such as a snow storm. I see it being used as a comment tool much like people comment on facebook or retweet with a comment on Twitter.
By now I believe my social media mantra is clear. Be smart. If you choose to use social media in any capacity know why, know your purpose and be smart in all you do. I need to extend my “be smart” advice to media that decides to critique social media use. Saturday morning while curled up under a blanket on the couch and sipping a mug of coffee I scrolled through Twitter on my cell phone. I saw a Tweet from @DaveWebb that said The Colorado Independent had called out The Denver Post for its... Continue reading ...
I’ve made it obvious that I believe traditional media should use social media. I advocate knowing why you’re using social networks, have goals and have strategies to reach those goals. So I find myself a little surprised at the thoughts that went through my head this afternoon. Is it possible to tweet too much? If you’re giving away your competitive edge, yes you can tweet too much. When I share what’s happening for me on the news desk and in the newsroom I am always aware that I have... Continue reading ...
I talked with a reporter last week about social media and the news. She kept asking, “can social media get us another ratings point?” I said that it could by simply connecting our product to new viewers who are using social networks, but that it would be hard to analyze the numbers. Numbers don’t tell us why we get numbers. Could it be our promotions? Could it be our community efforts? Could it be our efforts on social media? The analytics just aren’t there like they are with the Inte... Continue reading ...
I woke up to snow this week. The forecasts for a fall snow storm had all been right. I settled in for a snow day with my boys and wondered if I’d be called in to work. It was the last day of my vacation time I’d taken to be off with the boys during their fall break. It was a day of pajamas, hot chocolate, games, cartoons, shoveling and running around in the snow. It’s sometimes hard for me to turn off work, you know that internal switch where you can completely allow yourself to be in th... Continue reading ...
I was sick and at home for almost a full week. Watching the news was one of the last things I wanted to do. I wanted to watch chick flicks, reruns of my favorite shows, and catch up on all the shows episodes that sat for months on the DVR. Yet, I am a bit addicted to the news. I couldn’t stay away from it, but I rarely turned the TV to it. I got almost all the news from Twitter and facebook. No, I didn’t just read tweets or status updates and take those posts for truths. I let those posts ... Continue reading ...
I don’t really remember not being on facebook or not being on Twitter or not emphatically promoting the use of social media in traditional media. So it’s very surprising to me to realize I’ve only been at this social media thing for just over a year. That’s right I only started my personal facebook page just over a year ago, and only joined Twitter 10 months ago.
I do remember years ago my younger friends who had just graduated from college talking about facebook. I thought, “oh... Continue reading ...
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Posted by Misty Montano on Thursday, September 24, 2009,
In :
Twitter
I am often asked how a journalist can use Twitter, facebook or other social media networks while walking the line of being unbiased, yet personable. To me the answer is simple. Be smart when you use these networks When I share my experiences on the news desk I always make the source of the information clear. I never give an opinion on a story or hot button issues like politics and religion. However I am always me. I let my personality come out and I share some aspects of my personal life, like... Continue reading ...
Recently I was referred to as "oh, the twitter girl" by another journalist. I was not present during the conversation but a friend who was thought the comment was so funny that I was called right up and told about it. The conversation was apparently one of those, "hey, how's it going in your shop?" and my name was brought up. While my friend found the references amusing, I found it disturbing.I believe in using all tools possible to advance journalism. The tools at my hands at all times o... Continue reading ...
In this fast viral world we now live in due to so many social media platforms, I have found it bothersome that I can’t share all I want to with those who follow @CBS4Denver and/or @MistyMontano on Twitter or facebook. Rather, instead of saying can’t, I should say, I don’t have the time to re-write and share the information I receive from press releases.
One of my responsibilities as an assignment editor on the news desk for CBS4 News is to sort through, distribute, and file all of th... Continue reading ...
Last week I posted "To my surprise the crazy caller made my day normal" because it had been a nice, easy transition for me back on the news desk after being on medical leave. Boy, did I speak way too soon, and may have even jinxed the metro area with that post because around 10:20 p.m. a major storm ripped through the metro area. CBS4 News stayed live on the air until after midnight covering the storm. This meant I stayed and with a very minimal crew, we covered the second costliest storm ... Continue reading ...
When the station did the first local reporter packages on the protests and clashes after the Iran election, a reporter asked me to see if I could reach anyone in Iran on Twitter that would be willing to do an interview using Twitter or email, or whatever platform necessary to accomplish the interview. I was asked to do this around 8:30pm.
Of course I said I would do it and then asked the reporter and producer how we would verify the source if I got the interview? Pause. I'm asked if I thi... Continue reading ...
It’s been over a week since I spoke at NPPA Convergence on using social media in the newsroom. So much happened I needed time to organize my thoughts before writing out my thoughts. Sometime before I started speaking on a panel Saturday, June 13 I saw a post on Twitter regarding the Iran Electionsand the protests that were just beginning. Honestly, my first instinct was that of a journalist, “this is going to be a big story.”
To
be even more honest, after the conferenc... Continue reading ...
UPDATE Friday, May 29th: It's official I will be speaking at a social media seminar during the NPPA Convergence in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. Then I will moderate a panel discussion on social media. So I need help/advice. Those who attend are journalists wanting to know how to use social media. Some may already utilize social media, but others may not. I'm asking you: what do you want from your local journalist or news organization using social media? This is a whole new field for many of u... Continue reading ...
This week I was a panel speaker at a seminar on PR & Media in a New Media World hosted by Mile High Social Media Club. The panel guests also included Elaine Ellis of Metzger Associates and Jason Kintzler founder and CEO of PitchEngine. The seminar was attended by mostly PR professionals and bloggers who submitted questions for the panel to answer. I was honestly surprised to hear the public relation field is working to figure out the purpose and uses for social media just as media outlets are ... Continue reading ...
Below is the article I wrote for an upcoming NATAS newsletter. The purpose of the article is to introduce social media to the NATAS member that may be thinking of using social media. Tell me your thoughts. Social media may not be a necessity. Social media, at this time, may not drastically change viewership numbers. Social media, however, will give you or your organization another voice in a world where turning on the television is not always the first action people take to find news. Social m... Continue reading ...
Posted by Misty Montano on Saturday, June 20, 2009,
In :
Twitter
I started this blog over a week ago and every time I sit down to write it, I can't seem to get out what I want to say. This block has left me feeling like there's nothing else I can blog about until I get this out. So please, if ramble and take tangents, remember it's my way of trying to connect the dots. I'd love your feedback and ideas. I agree Lacey, it's been too long since I blogged. Last week was a horrible week for journalism in Denver. The Rocky Mountain News closed. There were lay offs... Continue reading ...
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About Me
I am a Journalist using Social Technologies and Interactive Media to connect with news consumers. I am taking on the new exciting and challenging role of Digital Content Manager at 9News in Denver, CO. Previously
I was an Assignment Editor at CBS4 News in Denver where I won a Regional Emmy for my work and spent the first 10 years of my career. I truly grew up On the News Desk.
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