Friday, April 16, 2010

The Art of News and Storytelling in the Age of Social and Digital Media Recap

Posted by Leah Ludwig @furiarubel

Yesterday, I attended a social media panel hosted by Gregory FCA @gregoryfca in Philadelphia. The panel, The Art of News and Storytelling in the Age of Social and Digital Media, featured the following high-powered journalists: Ted Anthony @anthonyted – Assistant Managing Editor, Associated Press; Laurie Burkitt @lburkitt – Writer, Forbes; Sara Clemence @SaraClemence – Co-Founder and Editor, RecessionWire.com, Deputy Business Editor, New York Post; Jennifer Preston @NYT_JenPreston – Social Media Editor, The New York Times; Sree Sreenivasan @sreenet – Associate Professor and Dean of Student Affairs, Journalism, Columbia Journalism School; Riva Richmond @rivarichmond – Freelance Writer for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal; and Brian Dresher @bdresher – Manager of Social Media and Digital Partnerships, USA Today.

Here are just a few take-aways for our readers:

  • Traditional journalists are now working toward the title of tradigital journalists – traditional journalists with a digital overlay
  • When using social media sites like Twitter, always be a pointer and point out the good work of others – sharing good links and helpful resources
  • One of the most precious/scarce resources in the 21st century will be human attention
  • If a company builds a large media following, journalists are more willing to take them seriously when considering including them in a national story
  • Tradigital journalists are still looking for good stories from PR people – trend stories
  • The New York Times @nytimes is linked to every 4 seconds on Twitter
  • Newspapers are no longer newspapers – they are news organizations, trying to engage their readers, collaborate with other news organizations and involving their readers in the creative process
  • When tweeting, use 120 characters to make it feasible for others to retweet – look at newspaper headlines (always under 140 characters and the title tells a story)
  • Breaking news takes on a new meaning because of Twitter
  • Industry-focused social media outlets and traditional media outlets will take on a new meaning to PR folks when pitching stories for their clients

Check out the twitter stream at #gfcapanel or http://tweetchat.com/room/gfcapanel for more great insight from the panel.

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