I’m going to talk to Medill School of Journalism grad students this morning about what social media means to journalism. It’s a term that’s been thrown around a lot lately, so maybe it’s useful to explain what the heck we’re talking about when we say “social media.”
It’s both something old and something new. We’re trying to find out what people have to say about the issues that matter to them. That’s as old as journalism itself. The new part of that is the technology we have to reach people.
The technology also lets readers tell us what’s on their mind with no filter. They can post comments or upload photos or video themselves, without a reporter asking questions or a quote being cut to make room in a long story.
Social media at its best also gives readers a place to hold discussions about topics that matter to them. Web sites give them a forum to talk to each other, and from there they can start their own conversations about what they want to.
A good example of what social media can do is this post from yesterday. I asked what people thought of the economy and posted the unedited responses. That way you an see what other people are thinking. Maybe you’ll even get exposed to a new point of view.
We’re just getting started with new ways of making connections between The Gazette and readers, and we’re only scraping the surface when it comes to social media, though. We have a lot of plans still to come.
So what do you want to see us do? Do you want to have a place to share your photos and videos? Do you want to be able to start conversations with other people on our site? Or do you want something else?