Tweet(Note, 12/4/13: When I wrote this post almost two years ago, everything here was true. Now, much of it no longer applies. The timeless summary: Experiment with different forms of posting, watch your own data, adjust based on what you see.) “You can’t always control who walks into your life but, you can control which …
TweetThis was meant as a way to demonstrate Storify to a group of Philadelphia Inquirer journalists, but it turned into a full beginner’s guide to Twitter. That works. Any further questions on Twitter or Storify? You know how to find me.
TweetJuly 4 in Philadelphia offered us a solid case study on the proper place of Twitter in reporting. Word of a shooting at a crowded Center City fireworks show spread rapidly through Twitter, and some people are disappointed that local media did not report on it. I’m about as big of a Twitter fan as …
Tweet It was almost 6 p.m. when we discovered in the newsroom that Andrew Stack, the pilot who attacked the IRS building in Austin, was a graduate of the Milton Hershey School, right in our backyard. For my first 2.5 years at The Patriot-News I covered the residential school for underprivileged children, so I offered …
Facebook delivers interviews for breaking, after-hours story Read More »
TweetWhen you’re the only reporter in the newsroom on a Sunday night, you have to be ready to write any kind of story — even if you have no prior sourcing on it whatsoever. I know how to reach the police chief, but what happens when you need to do a political story, you can’t …
TweetA simple task every reporter has to deal with: Brainstorming story ideas. In this case, I needed to seek out a little-known charity or organization to feature. Instead of sitting around and hoping a good idea popped into my head, or maybe e-mailing a source or two and crossing my fingers, I put my question …
Another Twitter testimonial: The networked brainstorming session Read More »
TweetHere’s a nice story by Laurie White for the American journalism Review: All the News That’s Fit to Tweet. Scroll down about halfway and you’ll see me quoted in this story about reporters who use Twitter. Daniel Victor (@bydanielvictor), a reporter at the Harrisburg Patriot-News, says he was originally a Twitter skeptic, but is now …
American Journalism Review writes about reporters on Twitter Read More »
TweetAt the end of the final June meeting of the Derry Twp. school board, I told a parent that I’d see her at the next meeting. But until then, I enthusiastically said to the Hershey Home member, she should participate a lot on the Ning network! “Ehh…” she said, shrugging her shoulders. I half-smiled in …
TweetI love the beatblogging project because it’s innovation in real newsroom laboratories, as opposed to tsk-tsking and dreaming. My foray into it has had its ups and downs, but I recently had a kind of success story that I didn’t expect when I signed up. And it shows why I believe so much that social …
Beatblogging success story: The “Open for Business” sign Read More »
TweetNewspapers have a tremendous opportunity to re-brand themselves as the center of the online community, connecting people to each other in every way possible. But that window is so enormously small, I fear very few papers will take advantage. It’ll be a fatal blow, and we’ll be kicking ourselves that there weren’t more entrepreneurs inside …