BLOG: Conversation with Syracuse.com Social Media Editor

Social Media Policy

One of my takeaways from our conversation with Syracuse.com Social Media Editor and Editorial Board member Christine Loman was that a lot of outlets expect their writers to be able to manage their own social media accounts effectively and appropriately.

During our conversation, Loman was asked about whether Syracuse.com has a formalized set of rules their reporters must follow on social media. She responded that while there is an informal social media policy, there aren't a lot of defined rules for their journalists on social media.

What this shows is that outlets don't want to have to police their employees' social media accounts. They want to spend the energy it would take to do that to create good journalistic stories.

However, it's important for outlets like Syracuse.com that don't have an official social media policy to keep in mind that the lack of such a policy may backfire on them if journalist take advantage of this by posting inappropriate things on social media.

Ways of Finding Story Ideas

Another part of our conversation with Loman that struck me as important was when she talked about innovative ways to find story ideas. She discussed how social media plays a big role in generating story ideas for journalists. However, specifically within social media, Loman talked about how the comment section on social media can provide journalists with ideas for stories.

This was of interest to me because I hadn't previously thought of the comment section on social media in that way. I had usually thought of it as a place where people spout off and argue with each other or with journalists. But Loman is right. For those willing to put in the work to comb through this section and identify what might make a good story, the payoff can be worth the work.

Additional Takeaways

Three other takeaways I had from the conversation with Loman:

• It's important to be selective when choosing what content to make a video about. Not everything needs to be a video.

• It's good strategy to identify what people like to talk about when coming up with story ideas. This way, people are more likely to read, listen to, or watch the content being produced.

• For breaking news, go to social media. Particularly Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Syracuse.com.

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