#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – experiment with ‘hashtag science’

When Liz Heron, social media editor of the New York Times, told the news:rewired conference for journalists about the seven ways the New York Times is using social media for ‘deeper’ engagement, she mentioned the term “hashtag science”.

The New York Times has been running an iEconomy series, an example where the news organisation has chosen “a series name based on what we thought would make the best hashtag – something that cleverly and clearly identifies the topic at hand, feels universal and inviting, fits neatly into a sentence, and above all, is short.”

Heron explained how “hashtag science” can “help reach new audiences”.

Other news sites could benefit from starting with a suitable, short hashtag when dreaming up a name for a series of features.

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – bookmark Top 5 News

Top 5 News is a website which lets you keep track on the top five stories on major UK news sites.

The a simple one-page site lists the top stories on the Guardian, BBC, Mail Online, the Sun, Telegraph, Independent and Financial Times.

Created by Benji Lanyado and Matt Andrews (who both work for the Guardian) and launched a couple of weeks ago as an “experiment”, Top 5 News is one that is worth bookmarking to keep tabs on popular news stories, plus potentially gain a few tips in what makes a good headline.

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – five tips for TV interviews

Ragan’s PR Daily has five tips for TV journalists from former NBC News producer Christina Mozaffari.

One of these is advice for interview questions. She says:

Repeat the question back.

If yours is a sound bites interview – meaning the interview is not live and the reporter will use only a part of what you say in his or her story – repeat the question back in your answer. This gives the reporter a complete sound bite on tape and ensures that the answers you give are usable.

For example, if a reporter asks a question like, “Why did you decide to go with Plan A instead of Plan B?” you would say, “We decided to go with Plan A because…”

Doing so increases the chances of getting your complete, concise message into the story. But one huge caveat: Do not repeat negative language. If the reporter asks you a loaded question or a question that insinuates your organisation has done something wrong, you do not want yourself repeating that idea back to him or her on tape.

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – understanding website analytics

The Online Journalism Review’s Robert Niles has written a post in which he advises publishers against looking at  web analytics and then using the information as reason to focus on reproducing content which has done well in the past. Instead he suggests content-producers cut out what is being shown to not work and focus on something new:

Use your traffic data to show you what coverage to dump, and not what to duplicate. Why waste precious reporting and writing time on articles that no one’s reading, no one’s linking to and no one’s engaging with?

Stop publishing content that your market’s rejected and use the resources you’d spent creating that to do something else instead.

Read the full post here.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – building user responses into stories

Over on the 10,000 Words blog Lauren Rabaino gives an interesting overview of the different ways the New York Times has used responses from its online users in relation to news into their own stories, often in very visual ways.

The post demonstrates how this sort of material can be used by news outlets to illustrate the attitudes, opinions and emotions of their audience, and how the NYT, as one example, has achieved this.

See the 10,000 Words post here.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – attribution guidance

Media Helping Media has published a post on attribution in news, taken from a detailed look at the issue by the News Manual, which discusses the right ways to attribute “facts and opinions” as a journalist, and how much is necessary to be transparent.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – using newsgames in journalism

The topic of how newsgames could be used to enhance journalism is one which is becoming more widely discussed in the industry, and formed one of the debates at news:rewired – media in motion earlier this month.

In this post from the event, doctoral student at the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-author of Newsgames: Journalism at Play, Bobby Schweizer, outlines seven different styles a newsgame could effectively take, e.g. a puzzle, an infographic or a tool to teach literacy.

He also explains eight uses of newsgames which could be of interest to newsrooms, by helping give users a direct experience of the story and enhance awareness of related issues.

We also previously produced a podcast on newsgames which can still be listened to here.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – 11 social network search engines

David Higgerson, head of multimedia for Trinity Mirror Regionals, has compiled a list of 10 social network search engines for journalists.

It was published last year but provides really handy pointers on social media search tools.

We’ll add Topsy to the list (a previous tip of the day).

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – advice on mobile reporting

Sky News correspondent Nick Martin has some advice for journalists using a mobile phone to record video.

He shared his tips at last week’s news:rewired journalism conference.

According to this post on three pieces of advice for journalists reporting using a mobile phone, Martin advises:

1. Practise

2. Don’t panic!

3. Use mobile reporting only when it was appropriate, explaining “that it is not worth setting up a tripod and XLR cables for an iPhone when the cameraman is just five minutes away”.

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use Topsy to search the social web

Topsy is a is search option recommended by Nicola Hughes, Knight-Mozilla Fellow at the Guardian during a workshop on searching social media at last week’s news:rewired conference.

It is also a previous Journalism.co.uk tool of the week.

Topsy is “one of the only Twitter search tools that has Tweets older than two weeks”, Hughes explained.

In order to research and verify images, Hughes advised putting images in to Topsy to see if they have been previously shared.

The full list of mentions of “Topsy” and #newsrw (the conference hashtag) are at this Topsy link.

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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