In a moment of either self care or broad stupidity, I decided to not check most social media over winter break.
But what did omitting my daily (okay, sometimes several-times-a-day) Facebook and Twitter scrolling mean? I missed out on my Friends and followers sharing articles from Occupy Democrats? I skipped seeing their frustrations with and mockings of the Trump Train supporters? I was supposed to not look at my phone when awkwardly waiting to go through airport security?
By putting away my phone and resisting the habitual instinct to scroll, I actually met people. I talked with strangers I otherwise never would've encountered in my Facebook sphere or my Twitter cylinder. And yes, this is most likely a Millennial problem (I see you gray-haired editors rolling your eyes, but come on, you've probably done this before too) but it was refreshing to connect with people in the real world rather than my own little online world. Someone in the airport security line even offered me a taste of his homemade sweet potato pie after I commented how good it smelled.
I still kept up with the news, too--and that made it seem more like actual news rather than just information/infotainment. Thanks to a constant onslaught of email newsletters (these are some of my favorites - check out your own local letters!) I was able to consume the news when I wanted, rather than having it constantly shared and promoted on my feeds. I didn't have any news FOMO, because the lovely reporters, editors, and curators behind the newsletters made sure I had the essentials and I didn't have to rely on Facebook's sneaky algorithm or the chronology of my Twitter feed. (Plus, people who write email newsletters tend to sound a lot less panicked and dramatic than people on social media.) This semi-sabbatical made me reconsider my social media habits not just as a person, but also as a journalist. Many of our personal accounts allow us to fabricate our own images of ourselves. I'm as guilty of reliving my day by rewatching my Snapchat Story as the next person, but there's a difference between that and between staying isolated in our social media cylinders. Especially as journalists, we should treat our accounts and activities on Facebook, Twitter, etc. as public service opportunities. I can't control the Facebook algorithm, but I can control my postings. There's nothing wrong with sharing our own stories, but what about sharing the stories of people around us? We can serve as conduits for pertinent news and information in our communities and societies through our own accounts. But we can also do more than observe from our own social media bubbles: we can show our audiences that we're human, that we're a part of their communities and lives as well. We can engage, and we can offer the opportunity for others to engage. This may be easier said than done, but opportunity is ripe on the local level. Check out the Twitter feed and Facebook page of Lici Beveridge, the engagement editor at the Hattiesburg American in Mississippi. I met her a few months ago through a journalism workshop geared toward building an engaging newsroom, thanks to the Poynter Institute. She shares the happenings in Hattiesburg in a way that demonstrates her local ties and simultaneously informs her audiences.
Remember the golden rule of not using first person in journalism? Lici's social media is a model to abide by.
And there's proof that this sort of engagement works: in a 2015 study about journalists' social media activities and the impact they have on their news products, researcher Jayeon Lee found that "the journalist was evaluated more positively when he disclosed personal information and when he had engaged with people who left comments. He was perceived to be more likeable." Nearly since the dawn of social media itself, opportunities to connect with sources and find breaking news have abounded. As NPR's ethics handbook reminds us, "Properly used, social networking sites can be valuable parts of our newsgathering and reporting kits because they can speed research and quickly extend a reporter’s contacts. They are also useful transparency tools — allowing us to open up our reporting and editing processes when appropriate. " This semi-dated but still helpful Mashable piece discusses some of those ways, such as how a Chicago transportation reporter Friended bus drivers on Facebook to communicate about city transit updates both to not leave an email trail, but also in a more intimate and relatable way. And in the modern reporting era with a Trump presidency, David Fahrenthold's crowd-sourced and transparent reporting on the president-elect's charitable initiatives sets a new standard. And so, here is my news: I moved to Los Angeles a few days ago to intern at the local NBC affiliate, KNBC, with their political team. The weather is crazy nice here compared to Chicago (#sorrynotsorry), and I've walked probably close to 10 miles in the past two days exploring the area. But I've also had the chance to meet some people who also chose not to scroll and instead have a conversation, and it's the stories like theirs that I'm looking forward to getting to know better and share with you all in one way or another.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
PerspectiveLooking at journalism from the inside out. Categories
All
Archives |