An introduction to social newsgathering
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Transcript of 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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
TWEETDECK
Tweetdeck columns
- Twitter lists of relevant sources - Keyword searches - Location searches
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
TWITTER LISTS
Follow established lists Search for lists
Look at source ‘memberships’ Search Twitter bios
site:twitter.com/*/lists/Paris
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TWITTER LISTS
Copy and merge Twitter lists
Twitter List Copy tool
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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.
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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.
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?
Credit: Ruben Bouwmeester and Julia Bayer
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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.
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?
Credit: Ruben Bouwmeester and Julia Bayer
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
Related vocabulary
Keywords
Political news?
enough, occupy, coup, demonstration, protests, protesters, corruption, active, embassy, government, our
Credit: Ruben Bouwmeester and Julia Bayer
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?
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
Geolocation
Right click on a location in
Google maps and select
“What’s Here”
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Geolocation
It will give you the co-ordinates
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
Signal
Signal, the Facebook
search tool for journalists, is useful but not
perfect
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Interest Lists
Interest lists on Facebook work like Twitter lists
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Signal
You can search
Instagram by location with
Signal
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Photodesk ($)
Search hashtags and maps, as well as managing
accounts, with Photodesk
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
Photodesk
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
Photodesk
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
YOUTUBE
montage.Storyful.com
•Powerful search
•Build lists of
videos and
collaborate
Montage is a multi-purpose
tool for YouTube
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
APPROACHING SOURCES
The digital door-knock
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
APPROACHING SOURCES
Audiences react badly in active situations
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
APPROACHING SOURCES
Don’t double up on contacting 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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
APPROACHING SOURCES
Don’t double up on contacting 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
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
APPROACHING SOURCES
Don’t double up on contacting 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.
Credit: Tom Trewinnard
@ajreid | firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews
APPROACHING SOURCES
Don’t double up on contacting sources
•If already set up with Checkdesk, soon to be
called just ‘Check’, the platform will
automatically scan for duplicate links
Credit: Tom Trewinnard
firstdraftnews.com | @firstdraftnews | #ONA16
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