the kdmcinfo weblog

Blog posts in "Social Networking"

June Multimedia Institute: What you’ll take away

By Mitzi Mock, May 9, 2013

The June 10-21 Multimedia Institute is an intensive multi-platform training program designed to equip journalists, educators and other professionals with skills in visual storytelling, data visualization and social media.

LIVE Storify: Complexity & Context Data Journalism Symposium

By Guest Blogger, April 30, 2013

Journalists, technologists and civic leaders talk trends and implications for the future of data journalism.

Custom Trainings: Supporting the Next Generation of Broadcast Media

By Mitzi Mock, December 10, 2012

How can television and radio stations effectively adapt their content for the web, especially new mobile platforms? We can help.

TJ Kelly: Social Media and The Impact of Storytelling

By Mitzi Mock, October 28, 2012

Social media marketing expert TJ Kelly has worked with some of the biggest clients in the world (eBay, HP, Charles Schwab). Here he shows journalists, educators and public affairs experts how to use the same strategies to engage their communities.

Can Twitter predict an election?

By Mitzi Mock, October 15, 2012

Our very own data viz guru, Len DeGroot, has built a living tool that predicts the winner of congressional elections each day based on ongoing Twitter feeds.

Social Media Influence: An experiment in information mobilization

By Mitzi Mock, October 9, 2012

influence chart 

This year we’re hearing a lot of buzz about the potential influence of social media in the upcoming election. It makes sense: more than a third of us are turning to social networking sites for political news.  But how successful are we really at using these sites to raise awareness about particular issues—especially those that lack a sensational ...

Clicks, Likes and Tweets: Boost Your Social Media Engagement

By Mitzi Mock, September 18, 2012

Want to spruce up your social media skills, but unsure of what a workshop can really teach you? Here are the four main things you can get out of our training.

Twanxiety: An Aspiring Journalist's Troubles with Tweeting

By Ashwin Seshagiri, November 17, 2011

I used to earn a living by building up Twitter accounts, but these days, I seem to lose followers every time I tweet.

Tweets from the White House: A Veteran Journalist's Uncommon Path to Success

By Ashwin Seshagiri, November 7, 2011

15 years ago, Paul Brandus helped launch MSNBC. Now, he makes his living by reporting in 140 characters or less.

Experimenting with Facebook Ads to Promote Stories

By Ashwin Seshagiri, October 3, 2011

How an ad that got almost no clicks taught us something about branding and exposure on the social network.

How Journalists Can Start Using Google+ Now

By Scot Hacker, September 28, 2011

Google+ may not "win" the war with Facebook, but its growth has been explosive, and the platform offers many features that will appeal to news organizations. Here's how you can start using it now.

Branding Content Curation at Reuters

By Jerry Monti, September 13, 2011

Did your last 5 stories include great curated content?

Webinar: Extending WordPress

By Scot Hacker, June 30, 2011

In this follow-up to KDMC's March 2011 Independent Journalists workshop, webmaster Scot Hacker introduces three techniques to take your WordPress news site beyond the defaults.

Twitter for Journalists

By Scot Hacker, June 22, 2011

Our new guide "Twitter for Journalists" demystifies the microblogging service, covering everything from signup and Twitter basics to hash tags, lists and retweets, to newsroom policies, best practices, and tips for community engagement.

In Search of the Perfect Twitter Client

By Scot Hacker, April 29, 2011

There are dozens of 3rd-party Twitter clients on the market, and they all take different approaches to the same problem. KDMC staff set out to find the best Twitter client to teach journalists on.

Blogging with the Experts

By Scot Hacker, October 14, 2009

The typical blog post involves an author holding forth, followed by responses to that post from the public. But UC Berkeley's Office of Public Affairs turned this model on its head recently with the launch of blogs.berkeley.edu. In Berkeley's model, topical questions are chosen by site editors, then farmed out to more than 100 campus experts ...

Twitter Dividends

By Scot Hacker, June 8, 2009

An interesting question came up amongst alumni of our training programs recently: Are journalistic organizations seeing an up-tick in traffic to their sites as a result of regular Twitter usage? What other incentives are there to use Twitter, if driving traffic isn't the main goal? We thought some of our alumni reactions were so interesting, we're reposting them here (with permission):

Should Journalists Be On Twitter, Facebook, or Both?

By Scot Hacker, March 2, 2009

Journalists exploring the use of social networks may wonder whether it makes more sense for them to be on Facebook or Twitter. Short answer: The two networks serve different purposes and different audiences, and you probably want to be on both.  

The culture of Facebook is primarily about making connections with people one has actually known. This, combined with the ...

Is Twitter Journalism?

By Paul Grabowicz, November 27, 2008

Eye-witness postings on the Mumbai attacks to Twitter have provoked a debate over whether Twitter is a form of journalism and news.

For two views, see Mathew Ingram  (pro) and TomsTechBlog (con).

Also, is CNN going to be the biggest loser to Twitter news?

Orange County Register Using Twitter for Fire Coverage

By Paul Grabowicz, November 15, 2008

The Orange County Register is using a Twitter feed to provide reports by people in Orange County about the huge fire there.

Is Twitter Killing Blogs?

By Scot Hacker, October 21, 2008

It's a common refrain in the Twitterverse: "My blog is dying!" When users can cut to the 140-character chase so quickly and so easily, they may start to wonder whether all those words they poured into their weblogs for years were a few thousand too many.

Online Participation Rates Are Up

By Scot Hacker, October 21, 2008

The ratio of "lurkers" to "participators" in online forums and social networks is changing over time. According to data recently gathered by Forrester Research, 21% of adults online consider themselves "creators," compared to 18% in 2007.  Meanwhile, the number of "inactives" has decreased from 44% in 2007 to 25% in 2008.