Journalism in a Social Media World

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...
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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...
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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 ...
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Face it.  There are a lot of new faces on TV News in Denver.  Last week I was one of those new faces as I did a live question and answer session with the anchors during the 6pm newscast. The following day I was live in two newscasts talking social media and the station’s Emergency Toy Drive.

The morning I was in the first newscast, and before I knew I was going to be on the news, I spoke to a group of local business leaders about using social networks in the newsroom.  We also discussed ho...

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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...

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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...

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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...
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