Tool of the week for journalists – Collaborative video editing platform Stroome

Tool of the week:  Stroome

What is it? A free online video editing tool which allows you to collaborate with others

How is it of use to journalists? When it won $200,000 of funding in last year’s Knight News Challenge, Stroome’s ambitions as a useful tool for broadcasters were outlined:

Through the creation of a virtual video-editing studio, this project hopes to simplify the production of news video by enabling correspondents, editors and producers to upload, share, edit and remix content with others. This will reduce the need for expensive satellite truck technology.

Stroome is handy if you find yourself working on a computer without editing software (there is also YouTube’s online video editor) although most people will no doubt favour editing within an application rather than within a browser due to the speed of upload and processing.

Stroome offers interesting possibilities to work collaboratively with others, not just journalists. One idea is that local news sites could encourage readers to upload footage of a severe weather event and collaboratively build a video using Stroome.

Share your ideas of how Stroome could be used by journalists and news sites by leaving a comment below.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Four audio guides to using social media as a journalist

Here is a handy series of podcasts on how journalists can best use various social media platforms.

1. How to create a Facebook page as a journalist

2. How journalists can best used LinkedIn

3. How journalists have been getting to grips with Google+

4. How journalists can best use Foursquare

You can listen to #jpod’s online, download from our website or subscribe to the Journalism.co.uk iTunes podcast feed and save them to your phone or mp3 player.

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Milly Dowler phone hacking settlement reaches more than £1m, say reports

It is being reported this afternoon (19 September) that the family of Milly Dowler has been offered a settlement of more than £1 million by News International in ongoing negotiations.

The Guardian is reporting that it understands News International has made an offer which has been “estimated by sources” at being more than £2 million, which includes a charity donation.

Sky News is reporting that the settlement is “likely to top £1 million”. The BBC has tweeted that News International is “close to agreeing seven-figure financial settlement”.

The company closed the News of the World following allegations that the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was hacked while she was missing in 2002.

The lawyer Mark Lewis, who is acting for the family, had no comment. News International had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.

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Independent: January launch ‘highly probable’ for Sun on Sunday

It is “highly probable” that the Sun on Sunday will launch in January, media commentator Stephen Glover predicted in the Independent today.

In his article on the rumoured new Sunday paper, Glover also explains why he thinks a Sun on Sunday makes better business sense than the News of the World, which “despite selling some 2.8 million copies a week, was barely breaking even”.

Glover argues that the Sun will need to recruit a fraction of the 160 News of the World journalists in order to “produce a seventh-day edition of the newspaper”.

If it sells at 50p (half the price of the News of the World, and cheaper than Sunday red-top rivals) it would probably be profitable with a circulation of a million. In the event, it may well sell many more copies than that.

Glover describes the axing of the News of the World and anticipated creation of the seven-day Sun as a “cynical charade” by the Murdochs.

In other words, far from being a sacrifice, shutting down the Sunday red-top and launching a seventh-day edition of The Sun carries a significant economic benefit. The Murdochs were able to represent themselves as acting decisively and almost altruistically – rather as a farmer might regretfully shoot a rabid dog that has been a cherished family pet. Now it turns out that the dog was old, unloved and expensive to keep, and there is a young puppy waiting in the wings which will be a much better proposition. The whole process has been a cynical charade.

He also argues the case against the launch of a red-top title from Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail. After an initial boost for the Mail on Sunday, sales have now slowed, according to August circulation figures, and Glover suggests “Associated would probably be wise to stay away”.

Glover’s full post is at this link.

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US newspaper apps adopt iCircular smartphone coupons

Associated Press has teamed up with 40 newspapers in the US to roll out advertising on the papers’ phone apps and the mobile versions of their websites, according to paidContent.

The rollout of iCircular, a coupon system which focuses on driving customers into their local retail stores, begins today (19 September).

This post on paidContent states:

The iCircular feature will be found within newspaper mobile apps on the iPhone. The feature will be available on other formats, such as Google’s Android, later on. It’s HTM5-based, so that will also be available on newspapers’ web and mobile wap sites and ultimately ease iCircular’s transfer to other operating systems. The app will be situated within a special “deals” section on each of the newspapers’ apps and mobile sites.

“It’s essentially an app within an app,” said Mary Junck, chairman of AP’s board of directors’ revenue committee and CEO of Lee Enterprises. “We didn’t want to create an app separate from the newspapers. We wanted something that would be as integrated into the newspapers as a Sunday circular is in the print editions.”

There is more on iCircular in this AP press release published in February.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to define your blog’s target audience

The Next Web has a helpful post for anyone thinking of starting a blog. It’s also a useful checklist to enable current bloggers to take stock. The tips are illustrated with examples so it is worth reading the Next Web’s full post which will help you consider each point in this summary list.

1. Work out and define your target audience;

2. Be aware of readers outside of your target audience;

3. Reach beyond your target audience by explaining terms and acronyms your regular readers understand;

4. Work out your target demographic;

5. Work out what your niche audience wants to read about;

6. Understand what else your audience is reading.

7. Be open to the idea that your niche and your audience might change.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#followjourn @zseward – Zach Seward/social media editor

Who? Zach Seward

Where? Zach is social media editor of the Wall Street Journal

Twitter? @zseward

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips, we are recommending journalists to follow online too. Recommended journalists can be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to rachel at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – allow people to ‘subscribe’ to your Facebook profile

Facebook has this week released a new subscribe function which allows journalists to use their personal profiles like a Facebook page and publish updates to a wider audience.

It’s an interesting development as it allows you to follow fellow journalists by clicking the subscribe button on their profiles and enables others to follow your updates and links to your stories.

You don’t have to grant access to subscribers every time you write an update (and let’s face it, Facebook updates are often intended for real-world friends only) as you can simply alter the settings to “public” when you are happy to share an update, much in the same way as you control who can access which updates via using the circles function of Google+.

There is more information and a space for you to share the fact that you are a journalist who allows subscribers on the Facebook for Journalists page.

There’s also a handy document about the new feature.

Let us know whether you find Facebook’s new subscrcibe feature useful as a journalist. You can leave a comment below, on the Journalism.co.uk Facebook page or send a tweet to @journalismnews.

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The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 10-16 September

1. Johann Hari admits plagiarism and returns Orwell Prize

2. Regional newspaper editor asks for job applications via Twitter

3. TUC: NUJ to call for support against far-right groups

4. Meltwater online copyright dispute reaches tribunal

5. Guardian to raise weekday price to £1.20

6. Newsquest North West staff begin strike over job cuts

7. Leveson inquiry: Brooks denied core participant status

8. Tool of the week for journalists – Batchgeo, for mapping data

9. Guardian Student Media Awards 2011: shortlist announced

10. Offices of Al Jazeera’s Egypt TV channel raided

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#jpod: How journalists and publishers can best use Foursquare

The Wall Street Journal is one example of a news organisation which uses the check-in app Foursquare to engage with a mobile and social online community.

Last month the WSJ used the platform to list hurricane evacuation centres in New York.

In this podcast technology correspondent Sarah Marshall speaks to social media editor of the WSJ Zach Seward about the newspaper’s experiments in using Foursquare and to Eric Friedman, director of business development at Foursquare, about how journalists and publishers can best use the platform.

Podcast: Download

Sign up to our iTunes podcast feed for future audio.

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