Mark, formerly a staff writer on the Times-Picayune in New Orleans and the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, is now in New York and open to opportunities.
Steve Scott doesn’t normally have problems communicating.
But last year, Scott, a 40-something drive-time news anchor for WCBS-880 AM newsradio, was struggling to understand his technologically savvy, 20-something colleagues.
The subject was Twitter — the popular micro blogging Web site that restricts its users to posts of only a few words, and often forces writers to shorten notes to text message-like acronyms and abbreviations.
Scott couldn’t follow the conversation, and then in Twitter fashion he realized: ths cld be the ftr of jrnlsm.
“I’m an old dog learning news tricks so I can get new treats every two weeks,” said Scott, referring to his paycheck. “I’m not doing it to stay cool or because all of the kids are doing it. I’m doing it to stay relevant to my employer.”
Given the state of the economy, and the massive layoffs that have swept the industry, Scott said, he can’t afford to not be on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn.
That was the overall consensus during the April 28 New York Press Club “Social Networking For Journalists” panel.
The discussion was led by Columbia Journalism School dean and WNBC-TV technology reporter Sree Sreenivasan, and along with Scott, included Lauren McCullough, social networks & special projects producer for the Associated Press and Noel Bryson of Visual Perspectives, a Staten Island multimedia marketing and communications firm.
Although there was plenty of youth in the audience, the “old dog” section wanted to talk about how to actually use Twitter and LinkedIn — a platform Sreenivasan dubbed “Facebook for professionals.”
The panel was happy to break everything down, from signing up and profile maintenance to security features and basic networking principles.
Through it all, Sreenivasan wielded a laptop connected to an overhead projector to display everything he was talking about.
“It’s amazing to look around this room and see how many of us are on these Web sites and yet still don’t know their full potential,” Sreenivasan said. “These sites can be very valuable tools for networking, reporting and sourcing. It’s not just for entertainment and killing time.”
McCullough, who has been following social networking trends for the AP, said these Web sites are valuable for a host of reasons. But perhaps the most obvious and often overlooked function they can serve is self-promotion.
She recommends posting links of big stories that reporters have written or links to video that web journalists have produced.
“It’s a good way to get your name out there,” McCullough said. “But be careful. Don't just be a shameless self-promoter. Display other work you like. It builds credibility and you’ll build a following.”
On that note, Bryson said social networks have proved invaluable while serving the various needs of her clients — be it a product launch or promoting a new Web site.
"I'll be honest, I don't know everything there is to know," she said. "But that’s OK. It's a tool, and that's the beauty of the Internet."
For more, go to Sree's Twitter Ideas site. Other resources:
