Why Social Media
is More than Just Fun
How to use Facebook as a Reporting Tool
Aka: why being called a ‘creeper’ is a compliment
Presented by Jenny Redden
Raise your hand if…:
 You have a Facebook account
 You have a MySpace account
 You have a Twitter account
 You have a Flickr account
 You have a Tumblr account
 You have a YouTube account
Raise your hand if…:
 Your mom is on Facebook
 Your grandma is on Facebook
 You are "friends" with a teacher
 You are "friends" with a principal
Raise your hand if…:
 Your high school newspaper has a Facebook fan
page
 Your high school yearbook has a fan page
If you aren't raising your hand,
WHY NOT??
Do you recognize this man?
He's the principal of
Stillwater High School.
His name is Uwe
Gordon. I've never met
him before… never even
heard of him until I
Googled him while
making this
presentation.
One of his favorite
movies is "Knocked
Up." He likes to play
disc golf. He considers
himself "proudly
liberal." And he
graduated from high
school in 1978, so I'm
betting he's roughly 50
years old.
Let’s do another.
Does she look familiar?
This is the yearbook
and journalism
adviser for Norman
High School. I’ve also
never met her.
She has a law degree
from OU and seems
to like cats.
Most importantly, she
went to Jenks High
School and we have
two mutual friends,
which could be handy
if I needed to
interview her.
And it’s not just
“grownups” we can
get info on.
What about
your school’s star athletes?
I found on Facebook the following:
Alex Ross, one of the Jenks Trojans' star football players, lists only
one movie in his “Favorite Movies” section: "Toy Story.“
Sawyer Kollmorgen, another rockstar football player at Jenks, lists
very little on his open Facebook page. BUT, he has a profile on
MySpace…
Star athletes continued
It hasn't been
updated in a long
time. (His most
recent post is from
September 2009.)
But I did find this
photo >>>>>>
This isn't actually
Sawyer. It's a friend.
I’m pretty sure that
the can is a soda, but
what if it weren’t.
The point is…
 Everyone is on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or some form of
social media.
 Video?
So…How can we use Facebook
to be better reporters?
 Find sources
 Post statuses seeking people for your stories
 Approach “strangers”
 Learn what others are talking about
 Scan your news feed for the latest thing
 Gauge reader interest
 You guys are smart.You probably know all of this. So let's get
to the fun stuff…
Ethics
 Would you use in a story any of the information I showed you
earlier? About the principal? The yearbook teacher? The
football player?
 What if their profiles were not open but you happened to be
"friends" with them?
 Would publish those photos?
How about your personal pages?
 Do you list your political affiliation on Facebook?
 Your religion?
 Are you “friends” with the people you cover? Student




council? Teachers? Principals?
Do you write blogs or make status updates that reveal your
personal opinions?
Do you cuss on your page?
Do you post (or get tagged in) inappropriate photos?
Should you be expected to keep your Facebook squeaky clean
if you work for your newspaper or yearbook?
The funny thing about ethics
 It’s not black and white. There are no right answers (although
I might argue there are some wrong ones).
 But here’s what some of the experts say…
Washington Post says:
 Use good judgment.
 Notify senior editors beforehand if you plan to Twitter or
live-blog something you’re covering.
 Don’t use new media to get into oral “fisticuffs with rivals or
critics or to advance personal agendas.”
 Don’t embarrass the newspaper or impair journalistic
independence.
New York Times says:
 "If you have or are getting a Facebook page, leave blank the section
that asks about your political views…"
 "Be careful not to write anything on a blog or a personal Web page
that you could not write in The Times — don’t editorialize, for
instance, if you work for the News Department. Anything you
post online can and might be publicly disseminated, and can be
twisted to be used against you by those who wish you or The
Times ill — whether it’s text, photographs, or video."
 "Another problem worth thinking about is how careful to be
about Facebook ‘friends.’ Can we write about someone who is a
'friend?'"
 "Reporters can ask questions by e-mail using addresses found on
Facebook, of course, but the same rules that apply to telephone
contacts (or personal contacts) apply."
The Gazette in Cedar Rapids says:
 If you’re using an account for work purposes, identify
yourself as an employee of The Gazette.
 If posting something would embarrass you or the company,
or call your professional reputation into question, DON’T
POST IT.
In summary
 It's OK to use Facebook, Twitter, etc. to find sources, to
reach out to people, to seek information… to CREEP. But,
as always, be sure to tell your readers where you got the
information.
 It's OK to continue using Facebook and Twitter personally,
but remember that your information is public, just like
everyone else's.
 Have fun. It’s called social media after all.
Advice?
 Lastly, I asked my friends (on Facebook, of course) to share
what advice they would give to a room full of high school
students aspiring to be journalists some day.
Rick W. says:
 “Make sure you take some sort of typing class. It will save
you a lot of time.”
Dustin H. says:
 “You need a tough skin. People are going to say mean things
to and about you. Don't let it get to you.”
 (NOTE: He gets Letters to the Editor at least once a month
telling him he’s a crazy liberal who needs to get out of
Oklahoma.)
Jeff P. says:
 I'd say two things:
 1. When they say you won't make a lot of money, they don't
mean you won't be rich. They mean you won't be
significantly above the poverty line. This isn't the difference
between driving a Mercedes or a Honda. This is more about
forgetting what a $20 bill looks like.
 2. If you still want this life, learn how to do everything.
Everything that is done in writing, editing and publishing. The
whole industry. Know online, know photos, know layout,
know editing, know press releases. Know it all. Because you
have to.
Andrew M. says:
 “Best advice I ever received as a young journalist: ‘Just give it
a chance. We need smart people to be journalists.You can
always go to law school later.’”
My advice
 Regardless of whether you study journalism, college will
probably be the best time of your life.
 Go to class.
 Get to know your professors.
 In high school, being a "super senior" is generally frowned
upon. A fifth year in college, however, is the stuff dreams are
made of. (Don’t tell your parents I said that.)