Finding and Backgrounding Sources on Social Media

David F. Carr Editor, The BrainYard

InformationWeek.com/thebrainyard dcarr@techweb.com

Outline

• Introduction • Show of hands time • Profiles of the networks, advantages of each • Demo searches • Q & A

Introduction • Current gig: Editor of

InformationWeek web publication on social media / social business

• Past: newspaper reporter, Technology Editor for Internet World, Baseline Magazine, freelancer, web consultant

• On the dark side: politics, marketing and corporate writing

Show of Hands

• Who promotes stories on social media? • Who uses social media to research / sourcing? • Who uses Facebook for business? • Who keeps Facebook strictly personal? • Who does not use Facebook (or minimally)? • Who is on Twitter? • Who is on LinkedIn? • Who is on Google+?

Research Uses of Social Media

• Find experts, authorities, authors on any topic • Find people who work for any organization • Find former employees of any organization • Find people who are “talking about” any topic • Find eyewitnesses to news events • 5-minute research before the phone interview

Clues to Credibility

• Established account vs. brand new account • Profile completeness: photo, links to other

biographical sources • Authentic content, consistent with claim of

expertise / first-hand knowledge • Connected to other credible people? • Check them out on Klout, Google • Contact and interview

Profiling the Networks: Facebook

• Mostly personal contacts, business pages • 955 million monthly active users as of June

Facebook: Personal Networking

• Limited (hidden) search. Easiest to find people if you can search by name, have connections in common

• Profile (“friend”) vs. Page (“like”) • Celebrity / expert / public figure

profiles may offer “subscribe” option

Profiling the Networks: Twitter

• Publishing and networking in 140 characters ~500 million users

Twitter, Briefly

• Good search (free text keyword, #hashtag, names) biased toward current content.

• Advanced search – spj near:"ft. lauderdale" within:15mi

• Profiles very abbreviated. • Send anyone a message by writing to

@username

Profiling the Networks: LinkedIn

• All business. Explicitly organized as a network of contacts and experts, structured for search by organization, expertise. ~175 million users

LinkedIn: Boring Is Good

• Profiles resemble resumes. Well-developed profiles will include recommendations, group memberships

• Good repository of experts (finding people who want to be found)

• Introduction system lets you stretch and improve your network

LinkedIn For Journalists Sign up for group, take training, get upgrade

Why You Want The Upgrade

LinkedIn Tips

• Build connections with existing sources, experts. Invite by email or search for profile

• First, flesh out your own profile • Include a note with connection requests

(provide context) • Use LinkedIn Group connections for easier

introductions • Participate in discussions, pose questions

Profiling the Networks: Google+

• Still evolving but combines best features of others. ~150 million active users

Google+

• Good search for names, specialties, content • Growing user base in niches including tech,

small business, websites trying to boost search ranking (get Google’s attention)

• Rich profiles • Posts can be short or long, include photos,

hashtags

Demo Time

Search LinkedIn

• Search for People, Updates, Jobs, Companies, Answers, Inbox, Groups

• Default keyed to site navigation (Groups when browsing Groups)

• Simple keyword search • Advanced Search for People

LinkedIn Examples

• Expertise / background – Forensic accounting

• By title – CFO – CFO with expertise in forensic accounting

• By company – Keyword: FPL – Company: FPL – FPL, past not current (story on alumni)

LinkedIn Examples (continued)

• Geography – Narrow any search by zip code, within x miles

• Company search – Follow organization, connect with employees

• News driven: Three charter schools close unexpectedly, including one founded by a former NFL player – Searches:

• Keyword: charter school • Company: Touchdowns4life

• Groups as a source of beat connections – Forensic accounting

Search Facebook

• Search by name most prominent • Click through to “See more

results” for search filters • Additional people search filters:

location, education, workplace

Twitter Searches

• Search by keyword for broad match • Search by hashtag for deliberate tagging of #subject • Narrow with Advanced Search or learn search operators • Twitter search operators

– love OR hate – strike near:"springfield, ma" within:100mi

Google+ Search

• Keyword search brings back a mix of post and profile results, which you can further filter

• Hashtags also work • Some standard google

operators work on Google+ – "a * saved is a * earned"

Using google.com to search Google+ site:plus.google.com "charter school" -intitle:"charter school" "lived * Miami"

Credits/Further Reading • Mandy Jenkins @mjenkins

– zombiejournalism.com – slideshare.net/mandyjenkins

• “Best Practices for Social Media Verification” by Craig Silverman, Columbia Journalism Review – www.cjr.org/the_news_frontier/best_practices_for_social_medi.php

• How to Search Facebook video by JM Internet Group – www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzfasqEw260

• Social search techniques – www.booleanblackbelt.com

• Mashable article on Social Media Search – mashable.com/2011/03/25/advanced-social-media-search/

Slides / Links / Follow-up David F. Carr

dcarr@techweb.com

www.carrcommunications.com/eij2012