Foreign news correspondents, local beat editors and cameramans: How you can use social media

It doesn’t matter what your role in the newsroom is—social media is affecting how you research and produce stories. With that change comes adaptation and growth, but change is always difficult, especially in an industry that is so rooted in tradition, accuracy and prestige. But in order to relate an audience that has submerged itself into social media, newsrooms across the world are working toward changing their office cultures. Currently, social media is often encouraged but not required for newsroom roles. However, I would argue that almost every person in the newsroom would benefit from using social media. Below, I share why a foreign news correspondent, local beat editor and cameraman at TV news station should be on social media.

Foreign News Correspondent

A foreign news correspondent can use social media to build a following, research stories, contribute to trending stories, post live updates and engage in conversations.

Foreign news correspondents thrive on reader support, and thus, they can use social media to build a devoted following. I regularly discover new journalists on Twitter—journalists that I never would’ve heard of elsewhere. However, because they post informative, engaging and valuable content, I follow them and support their work. That support becomes invaluable during an international conflict, such as the time NBC News Foreign Correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin was told to leave Gaza amid breaking news coverage. After an uproar among his supporters, he was allowed to return to the conflict zone.

When it comes to stories, correspondents can utilize platforms such as Twitter to perform research and find user-generated evidence. They can also comment on breaking news stories as well as post live updates from most parts of the world. Most importantly, they can engage other users and fellow correspondents in conversation. These conversations allow them to tell stories, ask for audience feedback, voice their opinions and correct any errors or misunderstandings. 

Local Beat Editor

A local beat editor’s best asset is his or her sources and connections. Social media allows a beat editor to really build an online community of local experts and residents, one that they can immediately cull information from. For example, a local beat editor can build Twitter lists that he or she can pull up when researching a story. Additionally, by “listening” to the people in these lists, a beat editor can scoop the news before anyone else.

Local beat editors can also use social media to find sources. For example, I am Facebook friends with a local beat editor in Detroit who is regularly asking for opinions and sources for her stories.  

Cameraman at TV News

You wouldn’t think that a cameraman at a local news station can utilize social media to his advantage, but he can. Social media analytics can report to the station regarding what types of videos or imagery that the audience is really responding to. Using that information, the cameraman can then craft more engaging stories.

Cameramans are also privilege to a lot of behind-the-scenes goodies, and thus, they can build social media personalities/brands using these behind-the-scenes tidbits, photos or videos.  

How Journalist Ann Curry Uses Social Media

Ann Curry’s Twitter bio consists of a simple but impactful sentence: “Journalism is an act of faith in the future.” Curry is an American television journalist, whose resume consists of two Emmy Awards, NBC News, Dateline NBC, and the Today Show. Over the years she has established herself as a journalist who is passionate about global humanitarian crises, which has helped her land exclusive interviews with notable persons such as Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female to be elected president of an African nation.

This passion is reflected in her social media accounts, where she has amassed 661,000 fans on Facebook, 1.55 million followers on Twitter and 27,700 followers on Instagram. A quick look at Curry’s social media accounts and one can deduce her primary interests: diplomatic relations, humanitarian efforts and the occasional funny photo/video. 

Curry's strongest platform is perhaps Twitter. When it comes to enhancing her journalism, she is using Twitter to do several different things:

• Along the lines of Facebook, she is extending her brand identity as a journalist by posting about worthy causes and ideas. Topics include UNICEF, climate change and Pope Francis. 
• She is balancing a lot of heavy journalism with fun images or videos, such as the "familiar face" that greeted her when she landed in Geneva. This makes Curry more relatable to her audience, and it showcases more of her personality, something that's really important when one is building an online presence or identity. 
  
  
  
  
• She is teasing stories that are in the pipeline via exclusive behind-the-scenes images. This piques the audience's interest and perhaps they will come back to see or read the interview. 
  
• She is clarifying any story discrepancies or misquotes, and by doing so is increasing her trustworthiness with her audience. 
• She is posting live updates at important international events or press conferences, often including compelling images. This helps quench the audience's thirst for immediate news while presenting a completely different side to the story. 

• Lastly, she is encouraging others to really make a difference, which again reflects her brand identity as a journalist. In 2012, after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, Curry tweeted: 
  
  The result was a viral social media movement that eventually increased to #26Acts to honor every innocent life lost in the tragedy. Says Curry in her NBC News article: "What’s really remarkable to me is how many people responded. They are the ones who carried the ball. They are the ones who chose what to do. People would tweet back, 'I’ve done two!' 'I bought coffee for a guy in line!' 'I bought toys for homeless children!' 'I’ve got 18 more to go!' or '24 more to go!' – whatever number they were trying to reach."
  
  
  "I know the truth: if you do good, you feel good," Curry concluded. I too was hit by the #26Acts bug, which I participated in two years in a row. Since then I've begun incorporating the idea into my everyday life. Now, whenever the opportunity presents itself, I do a random act of kindness. All because of a journalist's tweet that touched my heart a few years ago. So yes, Curry uses social media to enhance her journalism, but more than that, she uses social media to enhance humanity. And that is something that all journalists can aspire to do.