Outline/Notes: Kate Linthicum and Martin Beck on social media reporting strategies for covering protest movements

Beginnings

Protestors "Occupy" the park around City Hall in downtown Los Angeles last October

Discovery: Assigned to cover a protest with no leaders or official spokesmen, Kate turns to the Internet and to social media to search for information. “The use of social media increased the breadth of voices in our reporting.”

Started with basic searches, and found social sites run by Occupy people. Also found hashtags on Twitter that people were using, such as #OWS (the father of the Occupy  movement, Occupy Wall Street), #OLA, #occupy, etc.

On the ground at City Hall, Kate asked people for their online identities as part of her reporting routine. Some participants didn't have cell phones, but many who didn’t had an internet presence.

Many had met first online, followers of Annoynmous and Occupy Wall Street who connected online and then in person at City Hall.

During the process, Kate became a much more active and engaged user of Twitter. Previously had an account, but mostly just Tweeted links to her stories. She interacted more and started Tweeting newsworthy events as they happened, for instance,  she was there when councilman Eric Garcetti said: "Stay as long as you need to." Kate took a picture of Garcetti and tweeted it.

Continuing coverage

Kate will describe her strategy for covering a story that extended over many weeks.

She'll talk about the night she spent in the Occupy camp and how she kept her notebook and pen stowed away, using her cell phone to take notes. That put the people she was interviewing at ease and cut down on the verbal abuse she received from passersby. "It got tiring being jeered at."

When she wasn't at the encampment, Kate depended on the Internet to keep tabs on what was going on with the movement. Among her sources:

Email listserv: Much of the movement's planning was carried out here. Kate noticed the link on the Occupy website and signed up. "It gave me access to the internal message traffic of the most active people and gave me a peak at their philosophy as it was developing.

There were so many questions, what do they mean to accomplish, what is this movement about?

Through the listserv we learned (and were the first to report) that city officials and protesters were in negotiations about relocating the camp):

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/22/local/la-me-1122-occupy-la-move-20111122

Amazingly, those negotiations were later posted on Youtube. These guys film  EVERYTHING

Video streaming: The revolution will ... televise itself

Video -- much of it live streaming in real time -- was a crucial source of information for Kate's reporting. Because the story stretched out for two months and Kate couldn't be there all the time, she needed other eyes and ears.

"The protesters had their General Assembly meetings every night, starting at 7:30 pm. I would have burned out pretty quickly if I had to be there nightly. But I could keep an eye on what they were talking about -- and make sure there was nothing newsy happening -- from my house."

Video was being streamed by participants and by freelance video sources, such as Sky Adams (aka CrossXBones, later a subject of a Column One feature in the Times about the phenomenon).

Source of most of the video was UStream (ustream.tv) but discovery is much easier from twitter and facebook, in updates from sources you have connected with. This also helps you make sure that the stream source is what it appears.

"The unique thing about this movement was how incessantly it was being documented by the protesters themselves. (she spent time discovering the most active livesteamers and reached out to them)"

"I would walk around camp and ask the people with cameras for their twitter handles. I'd know when they were posting videos online, and then I could monitor what was going on from my computer, even when I wasn't at the camp."

Martin will talk a bit about verification that video is authentic and shows what it appears to be showing.

The eviction: Tweeting live

Kate was embedded with the LAPD's operation to clear out the Occupiers in late November.

Worked through the night, tweeting throughout.

"It's a great outlet for details and color and minutia that might not make it into the big story or blog post."

She'll share (and we'll) show examples of some of the interesting color she captured.

Live tweeting is like notetaking, observing the details of events you are witnessing and sharing that with followers.

Some of this incremental reporting made it into posts and stories (editors in the office were following the tweets from Kate and others on our staff at the scene and using the raw material for the 30+ blog posts during wee hours.

Examples: the legal observer, tree house guys

The aftermath

When activists are no longer centrally located, social media helps you keep up with activities and plans.

Following and friending on FB and Twitter allowed Kate to continue to keep tabs on the now more disfused movement.

And when Occupy LA resurfaced in the news, Kate felt like she had a head start on jumping back into the story.

 

Facebook and journalism: How can we do it better?

With 600+ million users -- and counting, counting very fast --  Facebook is an obvious target for journalists trying to figure out how to use social media to connect with readers and sources and, of course, distribute their work.

However, as Mathew Ingram points out in a recent post (excerpted below), Facebook started as a place to socialize, not to consume news, so it's not obvious how journalists should join the party. Recognizing this lack of clarity, Facebook is hiring journalists, such as Vadim Lavrusik, to help journalists figure it out.

There's no doubt that Facebook -- helped by its just-turned-one-year-old Like/Recommend button -- is driving more traffic to news media sites. But there are still few examples of successful engagement strategies. Facebook has been trotting out the same few success stories for months, focusing on standouts such as New York Times writer Nicholas KristofNPR's fan page and Vanity Fair turning its page over to "guest editor" Justin Bieber.

So the search continues. No doubt Mr. Lavrusik, who just started his Facebook job this week, will come up with many good ideas and share them on Facebook's journalist page.

The page already has some good, basic advice. Here are two bullet points that largely mirror the advice we have been giving reporters and editors for all social media:

  • Interact with your readers: Ask questions, solicit feedback, and crowdsource content on your Page's wall.
  • Be personal: People like your Page on Facebook to connect with you and your work. Whenever possible, share updates directly in first person voice. 

Below are several other recent takes on the issue. Have I missed any smart thinking? If so, please share.

Facebook: Hey, We’re a Great Tool for Journalists Too!

By Mathew Ingram

...the challenge for Facebook is that while Twitter seems perfectly designed to be a real-time news and information network, many users still likely think of Facebook as a place to socialize rather than be informed — a place to play games, or look at funny pictures and videos, but not necessarily a place where journalists are active. Those things may not be mutually exclusive, but it’s going to take some work to make them feel like they belong together.

Facebook’s Growing Role in Social Journalism

By Vadim Lavrusik

One of the key advantages of Facebook over other social platforms is the sheer number of potential sources it presents for journalists. At National Public Radio, its 1.5+ million-member Facebook community is invaluable for finding sources, said Eyder Peralta, an associate producer on NPR’s social media desk.

“There hasn’t been any query that we haven’t gotten good sources for,” Peralta said. From finding high school dropouts to people who have recently been laid off from their jobs, Peralta said the organization regularly posts inquiries for sources as status updates on its page and receives hundreds of valuable responses. “We’re using it as a megaphone, and people have always been extremely helpful.”

An advantage of Facebook is that users are able to privately message anyone on Facebook without having to be their “friend.” So after a reporter or producer sees a source they want to interview, they’ll contact that person through a private message from his personal Facebook profile. In some cases, users will even volunteer their phone numbers in the comments for a reporter to get in touch.

The case of high heels: How open-ended questions on Facebook can spark story leads

By Roy Peter Clark

The most powerful tool for getting reader feedback and generating civil conversation is the open-ended question. Ask readers, in print or online, what they think or how they feel, and you can inspire double or triple the number of usual responses.

Notes for a speech: USC copy editing class

Some (very rough) notes for a talk with a copy editing class at USC:

Changes in the media landscape. Rapid change in the business.

Print dominated How it used to be.

Here's all the important events that happened in your community, or depending on the ambition of the newspaper you were reading, world.

Once a day. Used to be enough to publish once, or a few times a day. Or even special extra editions. Descrete deadlines.  

Now 24 hour newsroom. 

Not enough to sit back, must distribute news in many channels. 

Not when they are spending more and more time on Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks. Nielsen reported last summer that 22% of all time spent online is on social networks.

Who saw the James Rainey piece about Neon Tommy? 

Our social history at the Times.

Can't sit back and assume people will continue to type latimes.com into their browsers or even from search engines.

Woof: New social networks created all the time. Never know what is going to resonate with masses next. W

We bet heavily on Twitter and Facebook. 

Trying other avenues as they arise. Tumblr for instance 

Bottom line: not really an different from what jounalists and other story tellers have been doing for centuries.

Study what does well on Social Networks. 

So what can an aspiring journalist do to break into the business? 

Proliferation of good information, never a better time to be studying journalism. Graduate level discussions happening everyday online.

Harvard's Neiman Lab and Poynter.org are a great places to start

Also use Twitter, follow people who are tweeting about topics that interest you.

Questions?

Extras:

--Ultimate news tip service, California staff has gotten social media tips that have produced at least a dozen front page stories in the last year

--michelle obama  Someone tweeted after seeing her at Pink's. We called the hot dog stand -- and yes, she had been there. (eating a mild polish sausage w/ grilled onions and jalapenos). 

--From one of our columnists: I find Twitter more useful and informative than email. Email is jammed w spam and 98 percent I toss but Twitter following the right people I get lots of tips, info and impt links.

--From one of our business reporters: I'm followed by many industry sources and executives and my tweets and their tweets (geez, I hate that word), has led to stories and better relationships. Even just tweeting about sporting events I'm watching has brought me closer to some sources who have the same interests.find out more quickly when scooped

--personal engagement most effective. Just like in real life, building trusting relationships with sources. Mark Horvath example

--great success with our Festival of Books twitter account. Really became a phenom last year, started using the hashtag #LATfob and carried over.

We are also trying to improve reader engagement on our own site.

A couple quick examples:

--Neighborhood pages, give people in LA County the opportunity to explore our maps and share information about the places they live

--More live chats on our Readers Representative Journal blog.

 

LAT Social Media / Community update

Several quick notes from the Social / Community bureau:

 

I’ll be holding weekly Social Media drop-in sessions to share successes, field questions and fight crime. We’ll start Thursday, Feb. 3, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the A1 Conference room. There will be no set agenda; it’ll be open mic for an hour. Bring lunch if you’re hungry.

 

Reader photos: Southern California Moments, a collaboration between Photo, Features, Metro and our readers is producing some incredible results. We are picking one reader photo a day – capturing a Southern California moment – for 2011 and posting them on L.A. Now and a page that shows all the photos.  The response has been very strong. Readers have submitted more than 1,300 photos on the site and our Flickr group.    

 

 

 

 

Another daily deal: Reader Erik Shveima is drawing the front page of the Los Angeles Times every day for a year and blogging about it at Mixed Media Daily.  We’ve added a widget to the L.A. Times Community page to pull his latest work onto the site (it’s in the right rail of the Community).

 

 

 

 

 

(download)

Test case: Storify-ing a Twitter reaction blog post

Here' a screen grab (click through to see the original) of our blog post about celebrity reaction on Twitter to President Obama’s State of the Union address:

Below is a re-creation I did in Storify. It took me about 10 minutes, and I didn’t have to deal with messy formatting details or copy-pasting hyperlinks. Of course, being a family-newspaper-type website, we couldn’t have included Vinny’s tweet in the Storify portion, but that’s a small price to pay, in my opinion. Plus Storify builds in tools that make it easy to share your post (on Twitter) with the people you quoted (from Twitter). It’s feedback-loop building genius.

Tweeters' Digest: What TV celebs tweeted during the State of the Union speech

It takes a special kind of celebrity to let go of their daily self-promotional twitter rituals and involve themselves in the political news of the day. Here's what a handful of actors, commentators and reality stars tweeted last night:   

Creating an account with still-beta Storify is dead simple. Just sign onto your Twitter account, go to Storify, and hit the *Login* button. The tools are drag drop and very intuitive, but if you have specific questions feel free to ping me.