|
|
|
This week I'm at the Society for Features Journalism's annual conference. I'm the newsletter coordinator for the group, which used to be the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, a board member and one of a handful of people tweeting from the sessions.
While the attendees here are mostly features and A&E editors, we're also talking about social media and creating apps. Here are five lessons learned so far that can help your newsroom:
1. Retha Hill of the University of Arizona's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication had some outstanding info on creating your own apps, on the cheap. Check out sites like iSites, DoubleDutch, Yapper and the Android App Inventor. Also, considering hiring students who have app-building skills from Elance or OrangeSlyce.
2. More on apps: Are they important? Hill says absolutely, because younger news consumers are bypassing the web and going right to their mobile devices, mobile commerce (buying stuff with a swipe of your smartphone) is booming, the public's appetite for apps is strong, and location is driving the need for information -- people want to know about nearby restaurants, shops, events, etc.
3. What's on the mobile horizon? NFC codes (which will replace QR codes, Hill says) and augmented reality.
4. More newspapers are sharing content because wire services are expensive and staffs are shrinking. (No surprise to you all who use GateHouse News Service.) Many large newspapers staffs, used to doing things on their own, find the transition hard, but a few wise editors in a panel discussion said using shared content is no different from using wire, or localizing it. So get over it!
5. You may think everyone's using social media, but the media industry as a whole is lagging. Some reasons to get on the bus, from Poynter's Tom Huang and Butch Ward: tweeting or Facebooking stories help them live longer, help their conversation continue after the story's run in print, help find sources for follow-ups or new stories, drives traffic to your website and builds communities of interest.
Follow us today and Saturday on Twitter, or join our Facebook group if you'd like to keep getting our story-idea newsletters and other tips.
This week I'm at the Society for Features Journalism's annual conference. I'm the newsletter coordinator for the group, which used to be the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, a board member and one of a handful of people tweeting from the sessions.
While the attendees here are mostly features and A&E editors, we're also talking about social media and creating apps. Here are five lessons learned so far that can help your newsroom:
1. Retha Hill of the University of Arizona's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication had some outstanding info on creating your own apps, on the cheap. Check out sites like iSites, DoubleDutch, Yapper and the Android App Inventor. Also, considering hiring students who have app-building skills from Elance or OrangeSlyce.
2. More on apps: Are they important? Hill says absolutely, because younger news consumers are bypassing the web and going right to their mobile devices, mobile commerce (buying stuff with a swipe of your smartphone) is booming, the public's appetite for apps is strong, and location is driving the need for information -- people want to know about nearby restaurants, shops, events, etc.
3. What's on the mobile horizon? NFC codes (which will replace QR codes, Hill says) and augmented reality.
4. More newspapers are sharing content because wire services are expensive and staffs are shrinking. (No surprise to you all who use GateHouse News Service.) Many large newspapers staffs, used to doing things on their own, find the transition hard, but a few wise editors in a panel discussion said using shared content is no different from using wire, or localizing it. So get over it!
5. You may think everyone's using social media, but the media industry as a whole is lagging. Some reasons to get on the bus, from Poynter's Tom Huang and Butch Ward: tweeting or Facebooking stories help them live longer, help their conversation continue after the story's run in print, help find sources for follow-ups or new stories, drives traffic to your website and builds communities of interest.
Follow us today and Saturday on Twitter, or join our Facebook group if you'd like to keep getting our story-idea newsletters and other tips.
