Journalist Arriving on Facebook

On April 5th, Facebook announced a new Facebook page called "Journalist on Facebook" that is designed and dedicated to helping journalist use Facebook as a reporting tool.

Last fall Facebook announced a similar page called Facebook and Media. So, you think "Well, it's the same thing right?" Not exactly. Just as the title says the page Facebook for Media is geared towards just media.

On the other hand, Journalist on Facebook is all for and about the individual journalist. It's main existence is to help journalist use the power of Facebook for journalism.

It does this with Facebook-provided best practices and peer collaboration from a big community of journalism professionals.

It seems that Facebook took the time to make this page a worthwhile experience. They have polling and discussion options that will grow in activity, video interviews with top journalist, and even a registration tab to be notified of journalist meetups in local areas. They even give you a nice "Get Started" guide to help new journalist.

Now, it may be easy to assume journalist know how to use social media and if they're using Twitter they probably do, but this new way of using Facebook goes beyond Twitter and offers more opportunities for journalist in general.

This is just a great chance to learn from other journalist giving more innovation and great content to use. Journalist can promote their content, become even more independent, and accumulate their fan base.

In my opinion, this is just a win-win situation for everyone and especially for journalist. Some people believe that this is just Facebook finding a way to compete more with Twitter, but is that really a bad thing if they are?

What do you think? Is Facebook just doing this for competition? Can Facebook be a good resource for Journalist?

Photo Credit: iloubnan.info via Creative Commons

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Can Bloggers be Credible Journalists?

We use blogs every day to find sources, story ideas and general news, but is all of this information accurate?

According to a study done by PRWeek and PRNewswire, 52 percent of bloggers think they are journalists, but Jeremy Porter disagrees with this idea.

His argument is that many bloggers just copy and paste what others have already said, making it harder to source information. The speed of the Internet itself becomes a problem when something that's not true goes viral.

What makes this information any less credible than that of the big media companies? Even they use blogs and other social media as sources in their articles.

Porter says, "It comes down to the quality, accuracy and authenticity of the content."

Major media companies have an advantage in this, but today many people trust their peers over what they see on television or read in newspapers.

Some of the people who answered yes to the question of if they are a journalists are definitely credible, but it all comes down to your own judgment to discern what is and isn't.

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A Journalists Worst Nightmare

Writers block.

It's happened to almost everyone at some point in their lives, and Jeremy Porter and I seem to be having the same problem right now. Luckily he has a few suggestions for what to do if you have no idea what to write, or have so many ideas that you have no idea where to start.

Here are a few of the strategies he suggests:

• If you don't have any idea what to write about, ask your friends or readers for suggestions. They're your main audience after all and will more than likely be glad to help.

• Keep a list of ideas at the ready. This can be especially helpful when you need to meet a deadline.

• It may be helpful to have a few ideas in draft form. If you don't feel motivated to finish it now, you might be able to use it later.

Try a few of these out next time you're struggling for subject matter.

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