Blog Post #3 - JRN 340

Convergence in today’s society is continuing to change, and the idea of reading newspapers for a source of information is becoming slimmer and slimmer.

Not quite everyone has given up on the idea of newspapers, however, regardless the type of journalism whether it be broadcast or print, all types of journalism somehow have to function with the use of the web.

Specifically millennials during this time period are dismissing T.V. and newspaper information and turning to their handheld devices for the news. Social media has been taking society by storm, engaging teenagers and young adults more than ever, helping spread global news and information. Being an aspiring journalist, one of the things that has become more prominent especially in my journalism classes, is that Twitter and Facebook are social medias that dominant news feeds. I’ve personally noticed that Twitter is the most common “news source” for today’s society, and the information on it’s feed spreads rapidly.

One of the most important things about “online news” is that journalists can make it easier for an audience to read and or engage in their works. For example, journalists can tweet an interesting lead or “hooking sentence” about their story in order to grab attention and gain clicks to their work. Nowadays, it’s typical for readers to tune out after a paragraph or two. With social media such as Twitter, this helps this predicament, as users like shorter and quicker news.

For me specifically as a journalist, below I have compiled a list of my ideas to utilize social media to help my journalism.

1). Tweet out my articles via my journalism

Tweeting our the links to my articles is one more step in helping gain an audience and spreading my work / news. Especially to the younger generations, this is the most sufficient way to engage them. I’ve noticed that starting my journalism Twitter account was one of the best things I can do, and can only further help spread news to a wider platform.

2). Attach media such as videos and or pictures to the tweets of my articles.

One of the most important ways to engage people to a story is media. Whether this be a grabbing image or video clip, any type of media will help enhance clicks, views and reads.

3). Use hashtags when tweeting.

Using hashtags when tweeting out stories can only help spread news on a more global level. Hashtags help widen the story, getting the information out to a larger crowd and offering more views, especially when those click the hashtag.

4). Re-tweeting unbiased and newsworthy information.

In order to gain a following and a broader audience, retweeting / tweeting unbiased subjects regarding news can help this. If I am unbiased, this can help me gain a wider following that can engage in my tweets / follow my stories. If I were to be biased, it slims my audience down and makes it more difficult to gain a wide following.