Verification tips, examples, case studies compiled by Josh Stearns

Verification of information gathered through social media is one of the most pressing matters in journalism today.

Josh Stearns has done the most comprehensive job I have seen of compiling links to tips, blog posts, examples and case studies relating to social-media verification. This will be my reading list for the next few weeks, so I thought I’d share it.

(Thanks to Josh for the shoutout and for the link to my tips on verifying information from tweets.)

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From 2008: Social networking: a marathon where you sprint

This is the third of three 2007-8 posts about social media I am republishing in connection with my address today to the Arizona Newspapers Association, which refers to the middle post. I have not updated, except to remove or update outdated links. The earlier posts included my first post about social media and my first post about Twitter. I think this one holds up better over time than the first two.

Here’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned about social networking: Connection grows from activity.

When I reached out to connect with people on Facebook, we connected. When I twittered a lot, people connected with me. When I joined Wired Journalists and formed some groups and started some discussions, other journalists joined the groups and started discussing journalism with me. When I started recommending friends on LinkedIn, they started recommending me. When I created a MySpace page and left it there without reaching out, only one friend and one jailbait spammer found me.

The thing I can say most certainly after a few months of serious social networking is that I know enough about it to know that I really don’t know much. The cliché of political campaigns (especially for the early losers) is that a campaign is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve run hard enough to recognize that social networking is a marathon where you sprint. And the finish line sprints faster, always staying well out of sight.

I’ll write separately about Facebook and LinkedIn shortly (I’m trying to learn to write shorter, more frequent posts). But my different experiences on MySpace and twitter will illustrate how activity leads to connectivity.

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Yes, social media is a ‘time suck,’ like lots of useful journalism tools

Update Sunday: I have added some further comments and videos of the panel at the end of this post.

Update: I embedded some tweets since originally posting this.

Walking to the Online News Association Friday morning in San Francisco, I tuned in using Twitter to the Associated Press Media Editors conference in Nashville. The contrast was striking.

At ONA, I attended an enlightening presentation Thursday night on best practices for journalists, based on hard data analysis. Friday morning I read a tweet from an Associated Press executive that reflected ignorance and generational stereotypes.

I’m sure the tweet that sucked me in wasn’t representative of APME, but it did highlight a disturbing divide that persists in journalism today.

My friend Joe Hight of The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com tweeted:

AP’s Liz Sidoti: Social media is a “time suck” and threatening young journalists’ understanding of reporting basics. #apme2012

— Joe Hight (@JoeHight) September 21, 2012

I was pleased to read in other tweets that some at APME and other editors disagreed with Sidoti, AP’s political editor (political editor!):

@joehight Hmmmm … I know good reporters @tulsaworld and @theoklahoman who know how to report AND use social media!

— Susan Ellerbach (@SusanEll77) September 21, 2012

Sidoti, AP’s pol editor, says journos are not learning basics of shoe-leather reporting. But blaming on Twitter? (Comment here.) #apme2012

— Carole Tarrant (@caroletarrant) September 21, 2012

Not why. MT @tiffanyg89 AP’s Liz Sidoti: social media isn’t good for journalism. Young journos aren’t learning reporting basics. #apme2012

— Matt DeRienzo (@mattderienzo) September 21, 2012

@tiffanyg89 Smaller newsrooms combined with very little focus on training. Social media is actually a GREAT “shoe leather” tool.

— Matt DeRienzo (@mattderienzo) September 21, 2012

Before commenting, I need to note that I wasn’t in the room and didn’t hear the statement or the context. But tweets from other APME members reported the same point from Sidoti, including a lament that these young slacker journalists were using social media in favor of “shoe-leather” reporting.

My response from San Francisco: What valuable journalism tool isn’t a time suck? Cellphones, data, documents, interviews, writing, thinking, verification of facts, shoe-leather reporting. Every damn one of them is a time suck. And good journalists manage their time well to do those things because they are essential to good journalism.

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Links and slides for workshops on blogging, social media, digital storytelling

Here are links and slides for some workshops I led Friday for the staff of Everyday Health:

My blogging tips:

• 8 basic points for basic beginning bloggers
• 7 keys to SEO: How to help people find your blog

Social media (mostly Twitter) resources for journalists

Twitter advanced search

Andy Carvin Storify of how he debunked the rumor that Israelis were supplying arms to Libyan rebels

How journalists and newsrooms can use Pinterest

Helpful links for learning and exploring Pinterest

Ivan Lajara’s blog post and Storify about making slideshows using Pinterest and Storify

Dan Victor’s advice on posting images, rather than links, to Facebook

Craig Silverman’s tips on verifying information from social media

Mandy Jenkins’ tips on verifying information from social media

My tips on liveblogging, curation, crowdsourcing and digital storytelling

(If you participated in the workshop and recall a different link I mentioned or showed, let me know and I’ll add it.)

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Craig Silverman compiles resources to help with social media verification

Craig Silverman has assembled eight “must reads” on how to verify information gathered through social media. I don’t have time to elaborate on them (and I would mostly just repeat what Craig and the writers say).

So don’t waste time reading my blog. Click on the link above and read what Craig and the others he has linked to have written. I will add them soon to my resources for accuracy and verification.

 

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Workshops for Northern Kentucky University

I will be leading a day of workshops for Northern Kentucky University today. Here are the links relating to the workshops:

Becoming a digital-first journalist. We will discuss how to think and work like a digital-first journalist. Here are the slides for that workshop:

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What does an engagement editor do? Digital First editors answer

I wrote last week about the work of an engagement editor (or social media editor or some related titles), a fairly new job in lots of Digital First Media newsrooms. Today, I turn the blog over to some of those editors to explain their roles (lightly edited by me):

Karen Workman

Karen Workman of the Oakland Press:

When I became community engagement editor, one of my longtime sources asked me what that meant. This was my response to him:

I care about our audience. I care about engaging them, getting news delivered to them across a variety of platforms, expanding the diversity of voices on our website, making use of their comments and contributions, audience building and in general, making sure we’re fostering that all-important community conversation that is the essence of what we do.

Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis

Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis of the Morning Sun in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

I find this job to be incredibly exciting so far. I don’t know a journalist who doesn’t say that one of the reasons they love their job is because they get to meet new people and be involved in the community; this job is the ultimate opportunity to be intricately engaged with and inspired by my community. I love the creativity it allows, and I find the “uncharted territories” of a brand-new position motivating and invigorating.

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Workshops on digital-first journalism for The Gazette in Montreal

I will be leading workshops this week for The Gazette in Montreal. Here are links and slides I will be using in workshops:

We will discuss leading a digital-first newsroom. Here are slides for that workshop:

We will discuss the thinking and values of digital-first journalists. Here are slides for that workshop:

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Questions and answers about journalists’ opinions in social media

An email (slightly edited) from a Digital First Media journalist last week raised a couple questions I hear frequently relating to social media:

I asked an important question at a staff meeting today, and the city editor suggested I e-mail you. It has to do with tweeting and/or posting opinions.

As a reporter (I know, you like the term journo), it is ingrained in me not to reflect my opinions. Last weekend, I scanned Twitter off and on and found many news outlets tweeting about the Occupy Oakland protest going on. A TV van was damaged, a flag burned at City Hall, etc.

My first impulse was to tweet my personal gut response: that I didn’t understand protests and flag burning in my generation and I don’t now. I also wanted to tweet that once Occupy got violent, that ended the argument for me.

But I had misgivings about whether I should post any kind of opinion at all, so I refrained.

So, is there a guideline about this? I thought about asking via Twitter, but obviously that wouldn’t work.

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Developing a culture of innovation

I will be leading a workshop this afternoon for the National Newspaper Association on developing a culture of innovation.

I have already blogged about many of the topics we will be discussing in the workshop. Some links that will be helpful to workshop participants interested in following up (and others interested in changing their culture):

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Social media (mostly Twitter) resources for journalists

Here are resources to help journalists using Twitter and other social media.

For the last few months, as I’ve been visiting Journal Register Co. newsrooms and blogging more tips for journalists using social media, I have been meaning to update my Twitter resources for journalists (now more than a year old). After today’s news that a new Journal Register subsidiary, Digital First Media, will start managing MediaNews Group, I suddenly got messages that I was being followed by lots of MediaNews journalists, particularly from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

I don’t know yet what my specific role will be in working with MediaNews, but I think it’s safe to say I will remain a leader in social media news for JRC, with likely roles in leading social media use for Digital First and/or MediaNews. So maybe I should introduce myself to my new colleagues with a list of resources for journalists using social media.

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I applaud Washington Post conversations about social media and digital publishing

Update: I’m going to re-use (and expand) on a line I used today in a private email exchange about the Washington Post Digital Publishing Guidelines: The Post’s 2009 social media policy was like a red light to Post journalists using social media. The new guidelines are more like a flashing yellow light. I would prefer a green light with a “drive safely” sign. But I welcome the improvement from red to yellow. Now here’s the original post, published earlier today.

Two years ago, I blogged that the Washington Post needed thoughtful conversations about smart use of social media, rather than a restrictive policy.

So I applaud that the Post is now having those conversations and sharing them with the public. I applaud without for a minute suggesting that my criticism was any part of the reason.

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