"Sharing IS Caring," Matt Dulin said.
In lecture, we talked about social media with Matt Dulin.
Also Matt’s song:
Matt Dulin
How you Doin’
Will be continued soon enough!
We talked about posting on social media before and after reporting and how sharing is literally caring because that’s the only way information is going to get disseminated and read by more people. It's important to share on our social media to get other people to share, because that's the only way stories will get opened up. It's fascinating at how social media because become one of the primary ways that we disseminate information now. How was it even like before the internet? Was is easier to get information heard when all there was were news radio and TV broadcasts?
But, it makes sense. I know that I get a lot of my own information and news from social media and what has been going on in the past 24 hours. It's a good way to just blurb out news and facts that need to be heard. Using it to get more readers of the Missourian is the only way that we can have a more prominent online presence, and that is essential for a newspaper, a dying medium unfortunately.
ELEMENTAL: part art installation part escape room!
I never new about TweetDeck or sites like HootSuite existed, and maybe that’s because I don’t usually use social media to disperse information. My main use of social media has been to show people my photos through Instagram, stay in touch with friends around the world and ultimately just watch funny videos. It’s interesting because it’s a great way to find sources and to find out what’s happening in the community. Looking at what people post in the community can be really insightful when writing stories about things that have been circulating throughout the city.
I have never ever seen Reddit as a platform to gather or disseminate information before, but I guess I’ve always had that weird idea of Reddit as just a place to post things that you think could go viral. To be blunt, I never took it seriously as a platform. Granted, I usually stick to the typical Instagram, Facebook and the occasion LinkedIn, so I don’t really know a lot about other sites that are useful.
I have been a lot more aware of my social media presence and trying to get my name out there so I have at least some credibility to people. My editor, Katherine, mentioned that Matt Pearce, a national correspondent for the LA Times was able to get people across the country to talk to him for a story because he has a massive following on Twitter, giving him a lot of credibility. So, I have been trying to amp up my presence on Twitter especially. I am pretty active on Instagram because I am a photographer, but if with that I lag on posting photos and keeping up with posting often. I have even made reminders on my phone three times a day to tweet. I promise my editors that I would have hundreds of tweet in the next few weeks, and I think I have been doing well with tagging people involved in stories and just involved with my posts in general. I try to keep it professional but also incorporate some of my stances on some things because I know that we discussed how to portray my opinions as a journalist.
I really want to be better at social media. I have gotten accustomed to not use my phone as often as I did before, so I really have to condition myself again to go through social media and get my name out there. It's easier when working with visuals and photographs because that's what I am, a visual journalist. I have, however, used my skills as a visual journalist and incorporated more photography and video in my tweets, which is more appealing for people to listen. Facebook is more of a personal platform, but I do post stories on there for my friends. I usually try and tag those who were quotes or involved in the story somehow, but I've gotten the most responses back when using Twitter. When you mention someone on Twitter, there's just a better chance of them finding it and liking your story, and even retweeting it for there own followers.
I was in the first public group to go through Elemental, a part art installation part escape room, a collaboration between True False and Breakout Como! (article linked)
I am a big fan of escape rooms. They are the right amount of anticipation and thrill. A couple months before, I went to Breakout Como to try and accomplish "escaping" their Missouri State Stock Exchange room, and the owner told my friends and me about a new "elemental" room that would be done this month. I kind of forgot about it until it was mentioned in the newsroom, and I was excited to find out that it's actually part of True False. I knew that this would be so cool visually. I didn't want to give away anything from the escape room and ruin the experience for others, but I wanted to show the mystical and scientific idea of the room.
Participating in it was obviously so, so cool. It was really fun and different compared to other escape rooms because we didn't have to use numbers or words to figure out the puzzles. There was some science involved, which caught me off guard, and it took a long time to figure some things out. Overall, it was an experience I'll always get to say I have because it's one of a kind. It is only going to be up for 10 days, so not everyone will get the chance to go through it, but I hope that the story was able to persuade readers to go experience something that is unique to our city.