An introduction to social newsgathering

@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews | #ONA16

AN INTRODUCTION TO: SOCIAL NEWSGATHERING

@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews

ORGANISING YOUR TEAM

In breaking news, confusion spreads quickly - ensure you organise your team into roles quickly and regroup regularly

Where possible, delegate responsibilities to your team

Assign platforms to specific journalists

For a three person team - lead person on Twitter/Tweetdeck, one person on Facebook/Instagram, one person on YouTube/Reddit/local liveblog

Do not get into a situation where two or more journalists are doing the same thing

Credit: Joe Galvin


TWEETDECK

Tweetdeck columns

- Twitter lists of relevant sources - Keyword searches - Location searches


TWITTER LISTS

Follow established lists Search for lists

Look at source ‘memberships’ Search Twitter bios

site:twitter.com/*/lists/Paris


TWITTER LISTS

Copy and merge Twitter lists

Twitter List Copy tool


TWITTER

Credit: Joe Galvin

Use filter for any of these within a curated Twitter list

Example string for Shenandoah National Park wildfires: “rocky mount fire” OR “rockymountfire” OR “shenandoah” OR “skyline drive”

In a Tweetdeck search, isolate:

๏ related vocabulary

๏ hashtags๏ place names (multilingual)

๏ names of people involved

๏ geolocated tweet by placename or lat/long

Can filter for Tweets with videos - Tweets with images etc.


TWITTER

Related vocabulary

Keywords

Most people relating a personal experience — good sources — will use first person language.

Most people observing from afar — useless sources — won’t.

How do people talk IRL?

I, me, my, shock, live, see, seeing, saw, can’t believe, watch, witness(ed), just, now, shock, damn, dude, crazy, scared, fuck, fucking, shit, omg, wow, breaking

Credit: Ruben Bouwmeester and Julia Bayer


TWITTER

Related vocabulary

Keywords

Human disasters: Terrorist attacks, shootings, explosions, war, conflict, train collisions

explosion, terror, attack, horror, OMG, OMGGGG, WTF, fuck, holy, shit, crash, shot, shots, shooting, terrible, shocking, WOW, people, run, running, someone, police, bus, car, plane, train, killed.






TWITTER

Related vocabulary

Keywords

Natural disasters?

house, world, street, evacuation, hit, shaking, aftershock, safe, disaster, evacuate(d), earthquake, tsunami, flooding, volcano, eruption, massive, killed, people running, damage(d), destroyed.






TWITTER

Related vocabulary

Keywords

Political news?

enough, occupy, coup, demonstration, protests, protesters, corruption, active, embassy, government, our






TWITTER

Geolocation

Right click on a location in

Google maps and select

“What’s Here”


TWITTER

Geolocation

It will give you the co-ordinates


TWITTER

Geolocation

Search “near:39.742268,-104.996656”

Copy them into a

Tweetdeck column with

“near:”, taking out the space in the middle,

for tweets from that location


FACEBOOK

Signal

Signal, the Facebook

search tool for journalists, is useful but not

perfect


FACEBOOK

Interest Lists

Interest lists on Facebook work like Twitter lists


INSTAGRAM

Signal

You can search

Instagram by location with

Signal


INSTAGRAM

Photodesk ($)

Search hashtags and maps, as well as managing

accounts, with Photodesk


INSTAGRAM

Photodesk


YOUTUBE

montage.Storyful.com

•Powerful search

•Build lists of

videos and

collaborate

Montage is a multi-purpose

tool for YouTube

http://montage.Storyful.com


REDDIT & LIVEBLOGS

Be extra vigilant with information shared on Reddit

Local liveblogs often a key source of content, contacts and information in real-time e.g Le Soir liveblog on day of Belgian attacks

Videos frequently sent directly to local media, and then shared on liveblogs

“Megathreads” often on Reddit during breaking news situations

Unverified information, but potentially useful tips, often links to original content

Credit: Joe Galvin


OTHER FREE TOOLS

Credit: Joe Galvin

Feedly Use to monitor streams of YouTube accounts A continuous stream of self-updating content that is viewable and playable within the tool

Storyful Multisearch Simple Chrome extension that allows searching of multiple platforms with one click

Ban.jo A paid for service, but also useful free service at ban.jo/trending


APPROACHING SOURCES

The digital door-knock


APPROACHING SOURCES

The digital door-knock

- Be mindful of a source’s circumstances, they may be in shock or still in danger

- Check comments and replies for answers to your questions

- Think whether there is a realistic chance of an answer

- No need for permission when embedding – but be wary of exposing individuals to

unnecessary attention

- Talk in private where possible: email or telephone

- Be careful not to encourage anyone to take risks

- Getting this wrong can damage your organisation’s brand

Credit: Fergus Bell


APPROACHING SOURCES

Audiences react badly in active situations


APPROACHING SOURCES

Don’t double up on contacting sources

• Always think: Will you realistically get something?

…and at what cost?

• By amplifying someone’s social media presence, will

there be consequences?

Credit: Fergus Bell


APPROACHING SOURCES


Read their other comments - also a good way to see if people think it is a hoax

Has somebody else already got the answer? - e.g. another reporter or interested person

Can you get the same information in another way? - e.g. did they post their contact details?

Co-ordinate your operation - only one person should reach out

Credit: Fergus Bell


APPROACHING SOURCES


Credit: Tom Trewinnard

bit.ly/UGCtemplate

• Share the sheet (and this workflow) with anyone who might touch

eyewitness media in your organization or network

• When a story breaks duplicate the sheet

• When you find some eyewitness media you want to verify or seek

permissions for, take a second to copy and paste the URL to the

sheet in the “URL” column. It only takes a second.

• If someone’s already added that link – it’ll flash red and say

“Duplicate!” in the adjacent cell (both on your cell and on the

previous entry of that URL)

• If it doesn’t flash red then add your name under “Point of Contact”,

the time you’re adding the link under “Time”, and update the row

when you’ve verified and reached out for permission or interview

http://bit.ly/UGCtemplate


APPROACHING SOURCES


•Set up a #ugc-requests channel

•Whenever you’re about to start working on a

piece of content (either verifying, or

contacting for permissions) – search the URL

in Slack’s search bar

•If a result is returned and shows the link has

been added to #ugc-requests, then move on.

Don’t contact that source.

•If no result is returned, then add your URL to

the #ugc-requests and contact the source.



APPROACHING SOURCES


•If already set up with Checkdesk, soon to be

called just ‘Check’, the platform will

automatically scan for duplicate links


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An introduction to social newsgathering

News & Politics

Transcript of An introduction to social newsgathering