Why should journalists use hashtags in tweets? Craig Kanalley answers.
“Hashtags increase the likelihood of people seeing your tweets and therefore of your tweets getting retweeted. When they do get retweeted, they also keep your tweet circulating in the Twitter index and make it more likely for even more people to see it.”
Tags: craig kanalley, Twitter
Blogging: Want to keep your identity separate or anonymous when blogging? Paul Bradshaw has a list of the best tools and tips for maintaining anonymity online. Tipster: Laura Oliver.
To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.
Tags: Journalism.co.uk, Laura Oliver, Paul Bradshaw
Jeremy Paxman interviews Huffington Post founder Ariana Huffington and the Evening Standard’s Anne McElvoy on the use of non-traditional media/amateur reports from Iran and the concept of ‘curating’ this information as opposed to traditional editing.
McElvoy usefully describes the intersection of as a complex mosaic with each piece contributing subjective information – but information that requires an overview/comparison that can be added by an editor or professional journalist.
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | Has internet journalism come of age?.
Tags: Anne McElvoy, Ariana Huffington, BBC, editor, Evening Standard, Huffington Post, internet journalism, Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jeremy Paxman, non-traditional media/amateur reports, professional journalist, the Evening Standard
Angela Grant, videojournalism trainer, commentator and blogger at News Videographer, is making a last call for survey participants.
Grant is running an online study on pay for solo videojournalists.
It’s only 10 questions long, so why not help her out.
Tags: Angela Grant, commentator, online study
“Gradually more power cuts – the future is more certain than you think (…) With 90 per cent certainty I can tell you that tomorrow will be Saturday.”
James Woudhuysen, professor of forecasting, De Montford University
“Content is not king, it’s about how people use it. SMS is one of the most expensive mediums but still massively popular.”
Matt Locke, commissioning editor, education new media, Channel 4
The above quotes were just a small sample of the varied and interesting points discussed at Media Futures 2009 in London last Friday.
The conference explored the future of the media as we move ‘beyond broadcast’.
Speakers and guests included the BBC’s Richard Sambrook, POLIS director Charlie Beckett and TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher.
Themes for discussion included desirable, feasible, challenging and viable futures for the industry.
Television
Video on Demand (VOD) was a popular topic, which divided opinions. Avner Ronen, founder of Boxee, a video service that connects your TV to online streaming media, argued that personal video recorders (PVR) were soon to be obsolete.
But as media analysts, including Toby Syfret from Enders, were quick to point out, TV still has a lot of life left in it. According to his analysis, despite the success of services such as the BBC iPlayer, watching streamed content remains a niche market with just 0.5 per cent of total viewing time being spent on computers.
Newspapers
Panellists were agreed on the future for local newspapers. Patrick Barwise, professor of management and marketing at London Business School said: “Local newspapers won’t come back, the classified advertising model that held them together has changed.”
After the conference I ran into Bill Thompson, the BBC’s technology columnist. Listen below to hear his views on the future for journalists:
Alex Wood is a multimedia journalist and social media consultant based in London. You can find him on twitter here.
Tags: Alex Wood, Avner Ronen, BBC, Bill Thompson, Charlie Beckett, classified advertising model, De Montford University, director, editor, education new media, James Woudhuysen, king, London, London Business School, Matt Locke, media analysts, Media Futures, Mike Butcher, multimedia journalist and social media consultant, online streaming media, Patrick Barwise, Polis, professor of forecasting, professor of management and marketing, Richard Sambrook, SMS, streaming media, TechCrunch, technology columnist, Toby Syfret, video on demand, With 90
“(…) I had grown concerned about health problems I’ve experienced as I’ve tried to keep up with the demands of blogging about a company with 41,500 employees, and many more who have left,” writes Jim Hopkins, former USA Today editor and owner of Gannett Blog, which has been chronicling the fortunes of the newspaper group.
“In the past year, I have lost quite a bit of weight as I’ve neglected proper nutrition and exercise. I could have made better choices, to be sure. But I am a very competitive journalist. I wanted this to be the best newspaper blog possible, because I think the employees deserve that much.”
Hopkins will shutter the blog on July 10.
Tags: competitive journalist, editor, Gannett Blog, Jim Hopkins, newspaper, owner, USA Today
#FollowJourn: Ruth Barnett
Who? Correspondent for Sky News with a particular focus on online reporting.
What? Recently added Twitter correspondent to her list of duties.
Where? @ruthbarnett.
Contact? newsonline [at] bskyb [dot] com.
Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.
Tags: #followjourn, correspondent, newsonline [at] bskyb [dot] com, Ruth Barnett, Sky News, Twitter
Interesting post from Thomas Crampton – not only because it flags up a promising internship role at the Phnom Penh Post, but more because of the requirements stipulated in that job’s description.
Candidates for the social media internship must have:
- At least 150 followers on Twitter
- At least 200 Facebook friends
- Administrator or creator of at least one Facebook group
- A blog with a Google Page Rank of 2 or higher
Which raises the question, as posted by Doug Fisher, what journalism/communication schools are teaching these skills?
Tags: administrator, doug fisher, Facebook, google, Phonm Penh Post, social media internship, the Phnom Penh Post, thomas crampton, Twitter
The Independent has tried its hand at an interactive map plotting the challenges currently being faced, and those looming in the future, by the newspaper industry:
(Apologies if some of the argument bubbles are out of the frame – just drag on the arrows to bring them into view)
Good summary of the key issues using DebateGraph – the map draws on arguments from Jeff Jarvis, Roy Greenslade and Gavin O’Reilly amongst others. Some links to some prominent reports/blog posts/comment pieces expressing these arguments would be a great addition.
You can rate the arguments made and add new points after registering. As users rank ideas, the strongest and weakest arguments will be shown by the size of the arrows connecting them.
Tags: Gavin O'Reilly, Independent, Independent.co.uk, Jeff Jarvis, Roy Greenslade
Want to track a conversation on Facebook? Murray Dick shares his thoughts on his blog, at this link. Tipster: Judith Townend.
To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.
Tags: Facebook, Journalism.co.uk, Judith Townend, Murray Dick
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