Using social media in the newsroom
Brief trip to London this week to discuss using social media in the newsroom at a Trinity Mirror news editor's event.
It was a low-key event but always useful to see and hear what other people are doing at newsrooms across the country.
Below is a slideshow and a few notes from my presentation about some examples of how we've used social media to enhance our reporting and newsgathering, not just online but also in our print products at Media Wales.
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“There’s been a murder!”
One of our twitter followers (@cardiffblogger) spotted a tweet about a potential murder in Grangetown (a part of Cardiff), and tweeted the tweet at our @yourcardiff account. We picked this up on a Sunday evening and were able to get a late reporter to start inquiries.
We had story up first thing, before BBC and able to include reference to tweet in story. Story then developed, leading the site and we used internal search to find victim’s name ‘James Way’.
We then used OpenBook to search for his name - and found 3 status’ saying ‘RIP’ and able to contact friends through Facebook and source tributes/photos.
Referendum coverage
Had big screen in newsroom showing people’s tweets on #welshreferendum, #yes4wales and #no4wales. Pulled in tweets to our live blog from Senedd covering all the action. Live tweeting results as they came in from the count.
TrendsMap Cardiff
Good way of knowing what’s hot in your area: http://trendsmap.com/local/gb/cardiff
The missing student, we’d missed
Student from Wales goes missing in Bath after a night out, tweeted at us by follower - immediately picked up on, story turned round and we tweeted to say we’re looking into it and the twitter account of the reporter who was working on it. Story generated 1.5k page impressions and also some positive publicity via Facebook group.
This is now an ongoing story, and CCTV has been released of his last movements
Facebook for weekly titles
http://www.facebook.com/rhonddaonline - each of the Celtic weekly titles have their own Facebook fan page. They are updated and used by the teams in the weekly offices to post stories, ask for tid-bits. Really strong communities and as weekly titles this is a good way of getting breaking news out there and asking for opinions for the next edition.
Overcrowding in Cardiff hospital
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=10150107777638002&set=o.302092231119&theater - posted on our Facebook page. We were able to follow up and contact the person who sent them - and work a story about overcrowding in hospitals with our health reporter.