Social media has significantly impacted journalism. Journalists now use social media to find story ideas, check for breaking news, share their work, and connect with audiences. To stand out as a source of authentic news on social media, journalists must find their unique "voice" by developing expertise, choosing an appropriate tone, selectively sharing high-quality content from others in their field, and engaging with followers by contributing to relevant discussions. Building relationships and a personal brand through social media are now essential skills for modern journalists.

1. Social Media and
Journalism
BY: KIM GARST

2. INTRODUCTION
Social media has impacted our lives in so many ways and many people don’t realize the full
impact it has.
Journalists in the last 5-10 years have made a shift with the ever-growing popularity of social
media. There is no such thing as “breaking news” anymore because chances are the story has
already been circulating on social media long before news channels and news sources can
post anything about it.
So how do you stand out in this world of social media as a source of authentic news and
become someone who others turn to first? It begins with finding your “voice” on social
media.

3. Things We Will Cover…
Why Social Media?
Social Media’s Impact on Journalism
Ways Journalists are Using Social Media
How Can YOU Use Social Media
How to Find Your “Voice”
Relationships FIRST! Connect with People!
Showcase Your Work and Share Others’
Contribute to Discussions in Your Industry
Use Tools That Relate to Your Field
Building a Personal Brand and Marketing YOU as a Journalist

4. Why social media?
Here are some statistics from 2014…
Active
Facebook: 1+ Billion
Google+: 540 Million
LinkedIn: 300 Million
Twitter: 241 Million
Instagram: 200 Million
Pinterest: 20 Million
- Leverage New Age Media
# Of
73%
Of online adults
use social
networking sites.
- Infographaholic
54%
of Facebook users
access the site via
a mobile device.
This is the case
for most social
media sites.
- Visual.ly
Users

5. In 1 MINUTE
208,300 photos are posted on
Facebook
510,000 photos liked
on Instagram

6. MOBILE USE HAS
INCREASED BY
700% BETWEEN
2011 & 2014

7. Impact on journalism & the news
To give you some background on social media and its impact on news…
50%
of people have
learned about
breaking news via
social media
rather than
official news
sources.
Over
27.8% 59.5%
of people who
get their news on
social media get
it from Facebook,
followed by
Twitter, YouTube,
Google+ and
Other.
34%
Of those who get
their news on
Facebook “like” a
news
organization,
individual
journalist or
commentator
- Pew Research Center
49.1%
Of people have
heard breaking
news via social
media that
turned out to be
false.
However…
*See the full infographic HERE.
Of people turn to
social media over
other sources
(like TV,
newspapers,
radio, other print,
etc.) to get their
news updates.

8. Ways journalists are using social media
68%
Use it to
find out
what people
are talking
about.*
59%
Use it to
share their
personal
opinion.*
80%
Use it to
promote
themselves
and their
work.**
70%
Use it to
connect
with their
audience.**
** via Skyword* via ING
Besides using social media to find a story idea or check for breaking news, journalists also use social
media for a number of other reasons:

9. How can YOU use social media?
• Develop a “voice” for your social presence
• Connect with and build RELATIONSHIPS with people (start now!)
• Begin showcasing your work but also sharing others’ to help grow your network
• Contribute to discussions in your industry
• Blogs, Tweetchats, Forums
• Focus on the tools that relate to your chosen field
• Ex: Video journalists should focus on tools like YouTube, Vimeo, Vine and Instagram. Those that will
be sourcing content should be familiar with tools like Storify, RebelMouse and Del.i.cious.

12. How to find your “voice”
Your social “voice” is made up of many things: expertise, the tone in your messaging, what
types of content you share and your personal posts (those matter!)
Never forget to add your personal
pieces in there as this will help every
day people connect with who YOU are!
Expertise Messaging Tone Content Personal Piece
Make sure your personality
comes through in what you post
The types of content you share
will shape your “voice”
Be the go-to source for
certain information
I know what
I’m talking
about…
This is what I
LOVE talking
about…

13. Connect with people!
What’s the point of being on social media and putting in all this effort if no one engages with
you or you don’t engage with others?
By engaging with your followers you are taking things one step further and creating a
community based around similar interests and beliefs.
What do you
think about…
I think that…
Hmm, I disagree.
Oh, man! Love
‘em!

14. Showcase your work and share others’
It’s not enough to share your own work and, in fact, ONLY sharing your work can make it
seem like the only thing you care about is posting your thoughts. It would be like a business
owner that only posts about his/her product and nothing else.
Sharing the content of other people in your space or those that have similar
interests/thoughts as you (or even drastically different ones) is a great way to not only
differentiate your posts but also tap into THEIR followers!
Check out this
great post from
@thisjournalist!
What do you think?
@suchandsuch is now following you
(also following @similarjournalist)
@morepeeps is now following you
(also following @similarjournalist)
@onemore is now following you
(also following @similarjournalist)

15. Contribute to discussions in your industry
This goes back to positioning yourself as a thought-leader in your industry. The more you can
provide value-based feedback on topics in the news industry or a specific area of news, the
better!
You’ll start to see an influx of followers that like what you have to contribute and relate to
your opinions and stances.

16. The job is in the TOOLS!
Having a large following on YouTube won’t mean nearly as much to a content writer as it will
to someone who is going into video journalism.
Likewise, someone whose job will be based mostly in video might not get nearly as much
success out of using content creation and bookmarking tools like Storify.
For those looking to go into broadcast news, you may find that you’ll use a wide range of
tools since you will probably do a little bit of everything at one point in time.

17. Stay focused but try new things!
80% OF YOUR TIME, SPENT ON TOP
10 BEST TOOLS
20% OF THE TIME, SPENT ON
TRYING NEW THINGS

18. Workflow on Social Media
Publish/Engage/Analyze

19. Finding the STORY
 Feedly.com – great feed-reader!
 Nuzzel.com – monitors news shared by friends and
influencers on social media
 Newsle.com – monitor news ABOUT friends and
connections online
 GetPrismatic.com – news based on your interests and
connections

20. IFTT – if this then that (happens)
1. Send tweets with a certain hashtag to a Google doc spreadsheet
2. Get daily emails with tweets that are location specific
3. Get a text if someone specific emails you
4. Archive your pictures on Dropbox.com
5. Link Feedly.com to Evernote
6. Build a Twitter list from a specific hashtag
7. much, much more!

22. https://en.mention.com/

23. https://www.google.com/alerts

25. In print you are a faceless byline

26. Online…
You ARE WHAT YOU SHARE in
an authentic way!
Stories, videos, resume, comments, tweets,
books and music you read, personal
experiences, etc.

27. If you share that you are an employee of XYZ company,
you become a brand ambassador for that company

28. www.kimgarst.com
twitter.com/kimgarst
facebook.com/kimgarstboomsocial
linkedin.com/in/kimgarst
pinterest.com/kimgarst
Instagram.com/kimgarst
Question Time!