COMM 361-001: Online Journalism

Jon DeNunzio

User Engagement Editor Jon DeNunzio of the Washington Post

• Former Web Sports Editor
• Former Prep Sports Editor
• Didn’t major in journalism (Graduated from the University of Virginia in 1991)
• Went to the Washington Post in 1994

Integrating Social Media into Your Journalism:

In Nationals Park in summer 2009, DeNunzio worked with the Post to channel tweets from attendants at the Park onto a single Web site. The idea never really took off, but it’s a great idea nonetheless. Perhaps with a tweaked formula, it would’ve skyrocketed.

Another idea Denunzio incorporated into some Post stories includes adding a question at the end of some stories, asking readers to tweet their answers. For instance, “What happens when mean girls grow up?” This would work ridiculously well with my story on the football team! Being that George Mason has the largest head count of students than any other school in Virginia, this story, without a doubt, would blow up on Twitter.

The two big I’s of Internet are Immediacy and Interactivity.

WHY WE USE SOCIAL MEDIA:

• It’s where users are
• It allows us to build a relationship with users
• It helps our reporting

Marshall McLuhan said that “the medium is the message.”

“No, it’s the social, the social media,” Denunzio said. He said that you don’t have to use social media in order to be social.

DeNunzio’s point, simply put: Be social with your users whenever you can.

• Use a poll (Twiigs.com, DeNunzio suggests, is totally worth it)
• Pay attention to comments
• Ask for ideas (AllOurIdeas.org)
• Ask for photos
• Host a debate
• Answer user questions
• Use the knowledge of the crowd

WHY HE’S TALKING ABOUT THIS:

• Come up with ideas to connect with users! It will put you ahead of the crowd.
• Because of the Internet and because of its interactivity, we must take advantage of the users on it.
• User engagement and data visualization are key nowadays. Do not underestimate or ignore them.
• Startupli.st

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 at 4:10 PM and is filed under Tech Blog (Guest Speaker). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.