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JRNL 10 - Hofstra

JRNL 10 - Hofstra. Prof. Vaccaro Writing for digital. Today’s roadmap. REMINDER: Blog on your class blog, and tweet notes using #HUJRNL10 On your class blog each entry headline should be formatted like this … “Class Notes: Writing for Digital” Lecture on writing for the web and digital

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JRNL 10 - Hofstra

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  1. JRNL 10 - Hofstra Prof. Vaccaro Writing for digital

  2. Today’s roadmap REMINDER: Blog on your class blog, and tweet notes using #HUJRNL10 On your class blog each entry headline should be formatted like this … “Class Notes: Writing for Digital” Lecture on writing for the web and digital Notes about next class

  3. Key Ingredients to Digital Media • Key ingredients to successful digital journalism • Ability to tell a story • Summarizing, quick/succinct pieces • Providing context • Being thorough and comprehensive • Understanding all multimedia elements • Engagement and interactivity with users • Developing content initiatives that go beyond the norm

  4. Traits for a Digital Journalist • Develop strong writing skills • Understand how stories are told on multiple platforms • Be flexible, confident, adaptable, versatile • Find, create and understand complex data sets • Be different, assess the competition and grow

  5. Digital Media Innovation • Keys to being an INNOVATIVE digital journalist • Think critically • Appreciate new ideas and technology • Innovate/teach/connect/relate • Be mobile (your phone is your lifeline/friend/tool) • Think outside-the-box (be different) • Connect the dots (context)

  6. Elements of News These should never change, no matter what type of medium you are reporting on … • Timeliness • Proximity • Impact • Magnitude • Prominence • Conflict • Novelty • Emotional appeal

  7. Writing Tips • Inverted pyramid • Who, what, where, when, why and how still apply with digital journalism • Short and sweet … no more than 500 words on average, many times 250-400 words if you have multimedia elements, sometimes less; Quick, punchy and to the point, concise and exact • Attribution and sourcing still applies

  8. Tips for writing: mobile • Focus on what users actually need on the move • Cut ruthlessly – but stay instantly understandable • Don’t forget SEO (Search Engine Optimization) • Make the user’s journey thorough • Related links * Commenting * Sharing *Hyperlinks • Keep the content self contained • Don’t relay on design, but adapt to it when possible • Headline length, caption length, etc. • Put a connection/link to your full site on every page • If you don’t have a main site, then create a URL to dub content for sharing purposes.

  9. Understanding your audience You’ll need to know your core demographic before you can begin reporting … you’re niche, the people you are trying to reach most. You should plan your coverage around the people who are reading your content the most. Is there room for more content that covers a broader range? Of course, but after repeated times with lower stats/clicks/views, then reassess the content. Why does the audience matter? Time, energy, budget … don’t put in the resources if they aren’t going to be utilized affectively.

  10. BLOGGING / ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNALISM Hofstra University Prof. Vaccaro JRNL 10

  11. REMINDER: Blog your class notes during lecture REMINDER: Tweet notes and links to your blog entries. Use #JRNL10 Lecture on blogging, entrepreneurial journalism and more about the business of journalism Today’s roadmap

  12. Opinion No set style Completely online Citizen journalists Anyone can do it Free/sustainable Objectivity Proper style Print/online/TV Trained journalists Hired by company Biz team needed Blog vs. Traditional Media

  13. Popular Blogs • Top blogs on internet: • 1. HuffPo (Aol) • 2. TMZ • 3. Business Insider • 4. Gawker • 5. Lifehacker • 6. Mashable • 7. Gizmodo • 8. The Daily Beast • 9. Perez Hilton • 10. Tech Crunch (Aol) Why are they popular? • Focus on one subject area • Packed with information • Perfect amount of multimedia • Mix between paid/unpaid writers/editors/bloggers • “What’s now” content … hip, unique, trendy

  14. Analyze the top blogs from list Let’s analyze the top five blog sites … 1. HuffPo (Aol) 2. TMZ 3. Business Insider 4. Gawker 5. Lifehacker

  15. Blog Basics • More characteristics defining a blog • Unique content, some related to a specific niche • Frequently updated - new content should be at the top • Every entry has a headline/body text and includes hyperlinks • Contains a spot for reader comments/feedback

  16. Blog Basics • San Jose Mercury News added a blog in 1999 and changed journalism • Every newspaper has blogs • Every major newspaper has broken news via their blogs • Every reporter hired now, is asked if they know how to manage/run a blog

  17. What are your favorite blogs? • Tell us your favorites? • Vaccaro • Jim Romenesko, journalism industry • Hardball Talk / Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports) • Islanders Point Blank • Let’s Blog it Out (Entourage), Newsday

  18. Creating a blog • Make a plan: editorial/business • Choose a blog system • Blogger/Wordpress • Choose a theme/design • Extras/Gadgets/Widgets • Build your audience • How? Remember from our second class?

  19. Tips for Bloggers • Organize your ideas • Be direct and to the point • Use appropriate language and style • Be the authority with a personality • Link, summarize and analyze • Be specific with headlines/tagging • Post early/post often • Use images and multimedia elements • Participate in the community/social network • Write less and with conviction

  20. News >>>>> Education >>>>> Hot-button issues >>>>> Animals >>>>> HS Football >>>>> Politics >>>>> Hot topics >>>>> History >>>>> Police/fire news Sachem Schools Immigration Puppies, Morkies Sachem Football Newsday LI Politics Community calendar 1940’s Europe Blog Ideas and more specific ideas

  21. Other Blog Creation Tips • Define your competition … who else is writing about this topic? • Who cares about the topic? Will anyone read or see this? • How can I make this a visitor destination? • Live blog and host talk sessions … think outside the editorial box

  22. Planning multimedia • Assess situation for adding multimedia to your story and platform… (could relate to web/mobile/blogs) • Photo galleries • Photo slideshows • Audio • Video • Info graphics

  23. Tips on info layering • You have all this content? How do you place it in nonlinear format on your platform and have it make sense? • Create each element to stand alone • Only include redundancies that are necessary • Avoid editing your ideas in early stages of planning … having too much is not a bad thing, you can always cut down or spread the content out (follow up?). Having too little is a problem.

  24. Assess multimedia potential • Can the story be broken down into several topical chunks? • Does the story describe a process? (Info graphs, video and photo galleries are perfect to displaying a process of events) • Is the story laden with stats and figures? (info graphs and data visualization will help you!) • Is there emotional narrative to be shown? (Video shows action and events as they unfold)

  25. Entrepreneurial Journalism Let’s apply what we just learned about blogging and microblogging to the following notes on entrepreneurial journalism. You should know how to build a media platform before trying to build a media brand. They go hand-in-hand, but the work behind the brand is what actually counts for the reporters/editors/journalists. You need to think and act as a publisher, business development executive in some aspects of journalism. The industry dictates this evolution. You’ll be better off.

  26. Taking advantage of opportunity • How do you open a new product and change the new media frontier? • Engagement: No longer are journalists expected to shout the news from a remote location, they are on the ground with the people. It’s a form of news collaboration, according to Briggs. • Building trust: Being transparent with the audience and giving them what they want in an online medium. • Embracing diversity of voice: You must be open to different view points through different dispersal methods. Fair and balanced with the submersion of new media technologies.

  27. What makes a successful start up? • Quality content pays • Understanding how to do business while being a journalist • Test, test and test some more • Pick a niche and go deep • Target audiences for targeted advertising • Check out the new app economy • Be ethical and stick with it

  28. What makes a successful start up? • Analyze common traits of other successful startups … both positive and negative • Learn how some blogs have grown into big businesses or other mediums like books or magazines • Get inspired by others who have beat the odds • Set your own goals and achieve

  29. Creating revenue models • Syndication: Will other companies pay for your content? • Custom content: Will people log onto your platform and pay for specific content? • Advertising: Will you work with a third-party ad agency to plate your ads on other networks as well?

  30. Elements of Innovation • Ideas do not fall off trees … you need to: • Be creative: envision something that doesn’t exist. • Risk: be willing to go way outside the box if you think it will work. Sometimes it doesn’t. • Hard work: easier said than done sometimes, and very cliché, but you know what it takes to be successful and it doesn’t happen over night in most cases. • How innovation is taught? Business schools have taught innovation through numbers and finance for years, now CUNY offers an entrepreneurial masters program for journalism. You can learn to think like an innovative digital journalist.

  31. Make innovation a strategy • Make a priority • Make failure acceptable • Set goals • Be agile • See innovation as a product

  32. Bring start up culture to the newsroom • Get hired by an older media company with traditional ways? No problem. It’s your turn to shine. • Divide and conquer: Think hyper-local and give authority to more people but in concentrated areas. • We report, you decide: Monthly meetings can be used as a way to report to your team how new projects are working. Good and bad.

  33. Choosing the right technology • You need a platform you understand and can work in • Choose the right host and right theme for the design of your site • Enhance your site with advanced features • Event calendars • Live blogs • Live video • Mapping • Databases • Bulletin boards • Social media/bookmarking • Email marketing

  34. Assignment No. 1 • DUE NEXT CLASS • Prepare an editorial/business plan for a web/blog idea that could be utilized as a real website … • Be prepared to have it done in class and talk about it, along with your classmates, in front of the room live before the class period ends.

  35. Assignment No. 1 • Post the business plan to your class blog • Headline: “Assignment No. 1: Biz Plan” • Things to include • Blog idea with specific focus? Niche? • Who is your demographic? Why? • How will you execute on coverage? • Types of multimedia you would use • How would you staff your company? Hierarchy of workers? None? • List at least five types of content you’d include: news articles, commentary, daily columns, etc. • List forms of multimedia to coincide with your coverage

  36. Next up Assignment No. 1 is due next class Lecture will be on Digital Photography

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