Social media plays "a central role in gathering our news," says Loren Macaulow of the Associated Press.
Sri Sreenivasan (Sree Sreenivasan) found out on Friday that raising Lauren McCullough from the Associated Press (AP) for the post of social networking and news engagement manager is another proof that news media take civic journalism seriously.
I wrote to Lauren to find out in more detail what role social media plays in collecting news by AP, how it affects the team, whether it foresees changes in social relations policies of the agency, and whether all 3000 agency journalists will start using them. Below is the edited version of our correspondence.
Steve Myers: More and more news media recognize the important role of social media by creating posts like yours. But AP is a special organization, most of its content is published through intermediaries, it does not have such direct contact with people who consume news. So what is the role of social media for AP? Maybe this is an attempt to reach the end user directly?
')
Lauren McAllow: AP has always recognized the value of citizen journalists. The brightest photos of recent events - the explosions in Oklahoma City, September 11, the crash of the shuttle Columbia - were taken by ordinary citizens, witnesses, it was their pictures that were later spread by the agency. When the social networks flourished, it became easier to share content and connect with journalists. We have taken advantage of this advantage, as you can see from the plots, including the collapse of the Minnesota bridge and the emergency landing of an airplane on the Hudson River. Last week I watched a report in which they said that we were late for a party with the introduction of my position, but in fact we were here all this time.
Social media plays a central role in gathering our news. AP journalists are active in social networks, increasing their source base and following trends. In addition, we have several corporate accounts like @APStylebook on Twitter and our YouTube channel. We are constantly looking for new ways to engage consumers in the news process. In the coming weeks, we plan to roll out a few more agency accounts on social networks. By this we hope to engage and help our consumers.
Example: Together with our members and regional affiliates, the agency launched the site wintergames.ap.org, which presents premium-class multimedia about the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. The site is optimized for users to share content, built-in widgets are created on it. And we also have great things planned for supporting Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The AP material about your new position says that you will lead editors “to get journalistic material from social networks and provide feedback to news managers on topics of strong interest in social networks.” Explain how this work will affect AP journalism. For example, will you write about something that has become a trend on Twitter?
Lauren Makalou: News and rumors appear on social networks daily. Our editors are discussing what deserves news coverage. We will not write about something only on the basis that it has become a trend on Twitter, but we will discuss it and assess whether the popularity of the trend is the information value of the news itself. We want to engage in dialogue and want to be able to convey to people what they want. I do not consider this work as a problem for our journalistic work. Our mission is the same: get (information) quickly, get first, get no errors.
You participated in tweeting @AP_Courtside during the meeting for the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor. How did this experiment affect the practice of AP in covering such hearings?
Lauren McAllow: A Sotomayor affirmation hearing was the first time that AP actively included users in the news gathering. We used our blog on Yahoo and our @AP_Courtside account for direct communication with the public. We posted links to relevant content of various kinds, both our own and created by our members. We clarified and answered questions. We used the platform and our access capabilities to help people feel right in the hearing room. By engaging in a two-way dialogue with the public, we have improved the quality of our work. In addition, we implemented it together with several newspapers.
We look at social networks not as a competitor, but as something that can attract consumers. In many ways, we are all trying to create new models that will allow the media to flourish.
What lessons has the organization learned from the experiment?
Lauren McAllow: There have been a lot of conclusions. Perhaps the most important was this: If given the opportunity, users will actively participate in a two-way dialogue on the topic of news. News readers have not gone away. Only their habits and expectations have changed. And we have a position that allows us to take steps and help our consumer.
You are currently heading AP's Social Networking Center in New York. What is this center? Is this a new structure? How many people work there?
Lauren Makalou: The Center for Social Networking will become one of the parts of our Nervous Center, which is our new headquarters in New York. In addition to us, it includes the News Center, the Standards Center and the Production Center.
The nerve center is the main point of intersection of information from our regional offices for all formats. This is done to ensure that we are competitive in critical news across all types of media, and to effectively coordinate our resources. While we are building it, I submit to Lou Ferrara, one of the managing editors of AP.
So far, we have decided that the center of social networks will have three full-time jobs.
After you posted your appointment on Twitter, I saw this conversation between you and Dean Betz from the Houston Chronicle.
Betz asks a question I’ve heard from other AP members: They’re afraid that the news flow is past them because the AP is testing new delivery methods directly to the reader. I give you the opportunity to tell about this problem, not limited to 140 characters. How does your social media strategy match your interests and engage your members? There are examples of projects made?
Lauren McAllow: While we are building our presence in social networks, we do not forget about the opportunity to advertise the work of the AP and its members. Our goal is a successful result for both members and readers. I think this is in the interests of AP and the entire media industry.
During the Sotomayor Appointment Hearings, we regularly included the products of our members, including the Los Angeles Times, New Haven Regista and the Houston Chronicle of Mr. Betz. We also led traffic from Twitter and blog posts to Yahoo to our member sites. In future projects we will continue to do this. We plan to cooperate with our members and consumers in all formats, as we all try to develop new business models for media.
You will be involved in the development of AP instructions for working with social media. Many media outlets, including the AP itself, have been criticized for developing overly restrictive policies. How to reconcile the employer's need to use social networks with the desire of the employee to freely express his opinion, not related to work?
Lauren McAllow: I believe that any good account on social networks will satisfy all sorts of goals. He is not completely personal, not fully working. I think that an employee can successfully combine the needs of both parties, personal and professional, without risking his employer, himself, or our journalistic values.
The purpose of the current AP instructions is to provide basic information for our employees, from which we can proceed in further actions. We are not trying to cool the heat, rather, we are trying to find a way to stimulate enthusiasm and teach people to include social media in their work. As happens with everything new, we do not have all the answers yet. And we expect that our employees will also take part in the search for answers, communicating with all interested parties.
Would you change anything in the current AP social media policy?
Lauren McAllow: I think our current policy is very fair and gives enough guidance without being too strict. We constantly overestimate our policy so that it does not become obsolete and is useful for employees. Our politicians are built on the existing values of journalism and the instructions applied in their work. We need not to invent, but to adapt to a new landscape.
Should all AP reporters use social media? Tell us how you would convince a longtime AP employee to start incorporating social media into work.
Lauren McAllow: I encourage all AP journalists to use social media. The main thing is to find a way to include them in the daily work of a journalist and use the following approach.
Step 1. Choose one social network to which you dedicate yourself.
Step 2. Evaluate your objectives and identify realistic milestones.
Step 3. Make a network usage plan. Set aside a special time each day to visit the network. Stick to this schedule.
Step 4. Do it!
I wrote to Lauren to find out in more detail what role social media plays in collecting news by AP, how it affects the team, whether it foresees changes in social relations policies of the agency, and whether all 3000 agency journalists will start using them. Below is the edited version of our correspondence.
Steve Myers: More and more news media recognize the important role of social media by creating posts like yours. But AP is a special organization, most of its content is published through intermediaries, it does not have such direct contact with people who consume news. So what is the role of social media for AP? Maybe this is an attempt to reach the end user directly?
')
Lauren McAllow: AP has always recognized the value of citizen journalists. The brightest photos of recent events - the explosions in Oklahoma City, September 11, the crash of the shuttle Columbia - were taken by ordinary citizens, witnesses, it was their pictures that were later spread by the agency. When the social networks flourished, it became easier to share content and connect with journalists. We have taken advantage of this advantage, as you can see from the plots, including the collapse of the Minnesota bridge and the emergency landing of an airplane on the Hudson River. Last week I watched a report in which they said that we were late for a party with the introduction of my position, but in fact we were here all this time.
Social media plays a central role in gathering our news. AP journalists are active in social networks, increasing their source base and following trends. In addition, we have several corporate accounts like @APStylebook on Twitter and our YouTube channel. We are constantly looking for new ways to engage consumers in the news process. In the coming weeks, we plan to roll out a few more agency accounts on social networks. By this we hope to engage and help our consumers.
Example: Together with our members and regional affiliates, the agency launched the site wintergames.ap.org, which presents premium-class multimedia about the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. The site is optimized for users to share content, built-in widgets are created on it. And we also have great things planned for supporting Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The AP material about your new position says that you will lead editors “to get journalistic material from social networks and provide feedback to news managers on topics of strong interest in social networks.” Explain how this work will affect AP journalism. For example, will you write about something that has become a trend on Twitter?
Lauren Makalou: News and rumors appear on social networks daily. Our editors are discussing what deserves news coverage. We will not write about something only on the basis that it has become a trend on Twitter, but we will discuss it and assess whether the popularity of the trend is the information value of the news itself. We want to engage in dialogue and want to be able to convey to people what they want. I do not consider this work as a problem for our journalistic work. Our mission is the same: get (information) quickly, get first, get no errors.
You participated in tweeting @AP_Courtside during the meeting for the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor. How did this experiment affect the practice of AP in covering such hearings?
Lauren McAllow: A Sotomayor affirmation hearing was the first time that AP actively included users in the news gathering. We used our blog on Yahoo and our @AP_Courtside account for direct communication with the public. We posted links to relevant content of various kinds, both our own and created by our members. We clarified and answered questions. We used the platform and our access capabilities to help people feel right in the hearing room. By engaging in a two-way dialogue with the public, we have improved the quality of our work. In addition, we implemented it together with several newspapers.
We look at social networks not as a competitor, but as something that can attract consumers. In many ways, we are all trying to create new models that will allow the media to flourish.
What lessons has the organization learned from the experiment?
Lauren McAllow: There have been a lot of conclusions. Perhaps the most important was this: If given the opportunity, users will actively participate in a two-way dialogue on the topic of news. News readers have not gone away. Only their habits and expectations have changed. And we have a position that allows us to take steps and help our consumer.
You are currently heading AP's Social Networking Center in New York. What is this center? Is this a new structure? How many people work there?
Lauren Makalou: The Center for Social Networking will become one of the parts of our Nervous Center, which is our new headquarters in New York. In addition to us, it includes the News Center, the Standards Center and the Production Center.
The nerve center is the main point of intersection of information from our regional offices for all formats. This is done to ensure that we are competitive in critical news across all types of media, and to effectively coordinate our resources. While we are building it, I submit to Lou Ferrara, one of the managing editors of AP.
So far, we have decided that the center of social networks will have three full-time jobs.
After you posted your appointment on Twitter, I saw this conversation between you and Dean Betz from the Houston Chronicle.
By quoteurl
deanbetz @lfmccullough Congrats. Will your role include AP members, or delivering APs directly to readers, bypassing members? 07 Jan 2010 from web in reply to lfmccullough
lfmccullough @deanbetz We're exploring many of our members and customers. 07 Jan 2010 from web in reply to deanbetz
Betz asks a question I’ve heard from other AP members: They’re afraid that the news flow is past them because the AP is testing new delivery methods directly to the reader. I give you the opportunity to tell about this problem, not limited to 140 characters. How does your social media strategy match your interests and engage your members? There are examples of projects made?
Lauren McAllow: While we are building our presence in social networks, we do not forget about the opportunity to advertise the work of the AP and its members. Our goal is a successful result for both members and readers. I think this is in the interests of AP and the entire media industry.
During the Sotomayor Appointment Hearings, we regularly included the products of our members, including the Los Angeles Times, New Haven Regista and the Houston Chronicle of Mr. Betz. We also led traffic from Twitter and blog posts to Yahoo to our member sites. In future projects we will continue to do this. We plan to cooperate with our members and consumers in all formats, as we all try to develop new business models for media.
You will be involved in the development of AP instructions for working with social media. Many media outlets, including the AP itself, have been criticized for developing overly restrictive policies. How to reconcile the employer's need to use social networks with the desire of the employee to freely express his opinion, not related to work?
Lauren McAllow: I believe that any good account on social networks will satisfy all sorts of goals. He is not completely personal, not fully working. I think that an employee can successfully combine the needs of both parties, personal and professional, without risking his employer, himself, or our journalistic values.
The purpose of the current AP instructions is to provide basic information for our employees, from which we can proceed in further actions. We are not trying to cool the heat, rather, we are trying to find a way to stimulate enthusiasm and teach people to include social media in their work. As happens with everything new, we do not have all the answers yet. And we expect that our employees will also take part in the search for answers, communicating with all interested parties.
Would you change anything in the current AP social media policy?
Lauren McAllow: I think our current policy is very fair and gives enough guidance without being too strict. We constantly overestimate our policy so that it does not become obsolete and is useful for employees. Our politicians are built on the existing values of journalism and the instructions applied in their work. We need not to invent, but to adapt to a new landscape.
Should all AP reporters use social media? Tell us how you would convince a longtime AP employee to start incorporating social media into work.
Lauren McAllow: I encourage all AP journalists to use social media. The main thing is to find a way to include them in the daily work of a journalist and use the following approach.
Step 1. Choose one social network to which you dedicate yourself.
Step 2. Evaluate your objectives and identify realistic milestones.
Step 3. Make a network usage plan. Set aside a special time each day to visit the network. Stick to this schedule.
Step 4. Do it!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/288206/
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