University of Florida | 6 - 10 July 2009

Social Media and Journalism

Today's journalists need to understand online searching, RSS readers, Delicious bookmarks, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media tools.

USing an RSS Reader

Google Reader is a free, online RSS feed reader.

• An introduction to RSS
• How to be an Authority Maven: 21 Tips for Keeping Up to Date in Your Niche
• New York Times RSS Feeds (index page)
• 20 Essential RSS Feeds for Multimedia Journalists

Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency: Read blogs and use RSS (how to)

Social Bookmarking -- Online Bookmarks

Delicious is a popular site for keeping and organizing your Web bookmarks.

• Have you tried Delicious?
• How shared bookmarks can make you smarter

"Microblogging" on Twitter

Twitter has become wildly popular among journalists in North America and some other countries.

• The Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users
• 1,000 Followers on Twitter
• The New York Times on Twitter

The 2009 elections in Iran demonstrated how savvy Internet users use/d Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other social media sites to follow the news -- on a day when CNN was apparently "out to lunch"!

• HOW TO: Track Iran Election with Twitter and Social Media
• Iran Elections: A Twitter Revolution?

Social Aspects of YouTube

For a writing assignment about the social uses of YouTube (and social media in general), I require graduate students to watch these three videos:

• An anthropological introduction to YouTube, 55 min. 33 sec.
• The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version), 4 min. 33 sec.
• A Vision of Students Today, 4 min. 44 sec.

Getting started with social media is easy -- all of the tools are 100 percent free. Just sign up for an account and start experimenting.

Copyright © 2009 Mindy McAdams | University of Florida