Twittering the Future with SPJ


Posted: April 23rd, 2009 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: EndGame PR News, Social Media Opinion, Speaking Engagements | No Comments

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I had a great time last night talking Twitter and Facebook with the Virginia Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).  I was invited, along with Dave Park from Media General (that’s us in the picture — I’m the one in the tie), to visit their meeting at Capital Ale House to participate in a roundtable discussion on how journalists can use social media and social networking sites.

Here’s a minor recap of the discussion:

  • Most of the journalists in attendance understand the value of using Twitter, Facebook, and blogging to promote their work and their media organizations, but the issue is time. With the cutbacks at media organizations, it’s hard to do the primary work that needs to be done.
  • There’s a problem keeping your personal life on Facebook and (to a lesser extent) Twitter separate from your work life. My suggestion on Twitter is to have multiple accounts – one for work and one for personal. On Facebook, I think the solution is to create a page for your organization, and all reporters would have administrative priviledges so they can post news items there.
  • There was a great deal of debate about citizen journalism, particularly when it comes to photos taken at breaking news scenes such as January’s plane crash into the Hudson River.  The first images from that scene were posted on Flickr and Twitter before ever being seen by the traditional media.  My opinion is that we can never again expect that the first images to come from a scene like that will be from professional journalists.  That day is gone. The role of traditional media in these cases will be to first acquire images and information from citizen journalists, and second to have a reporter and professional photojournalist on scene for more in-depth reporting and follow-up.
  • There’s concern about how to manage posting “volume” on social networking sites.  There were some who worried about posting every single article from an organization on Facebook and/or Twitter and potentially irritating friends/followers with a flood of links.  I don’t think posting every single article is the answer. Breaking news and links to big stories should be posted, along with “inside” or “background” information on stories that were published that day or are about to be published.

I’d like to thank the SPJ chapter for inviting me. I had a great time and it was a great discussion.

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